Mental health effects of NHS waiting lists double in year

NHS delays are negatively affecting the mental health of twice as many patients as this time last year, new figures have suggested.

Twenty four per cent of adults – the equivalent to 12.5 million Britons – said their wellbeing had been impacted in the past month by waiting too long for a hospital appointment or to see a GP, a survey by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed. When the statistics watchdog last carried out the equivalent research in February last year, the health service backlog harmed the mental health of 12 per cent of adults.

Last autumn saw the NHS waiting list rise to a record high of 7.75 million patients, before it fell slightly to 7.6 million at the end of last year.

Almost one in five people (18 per cent) told the ONS their physical health had been affected in the past month by waiting too long for a GP or appointment, rising to 22 per cent of those over the age of 65. One in three respondents to the survey, which was conducted among 11,950 adults in the UK, said they had either found it difficult or very difficult to book a GP appointment in the four-and-a-half week period it covered.

The findings sparked a political row as the Liberal Democrats accused the Conservatives of worsening the national mental health crisis and leaving patients “worried sick”.

Sir Ed Davey, the Liberal Democrat leader, said: “This Conservative Government’s failure to tackle agonising waits for NHS treatment is creating a mental health epidemic.”

Maria Caulfield, a Tory health minister, noted Rishi Sunak only last week introduced sweeping pharmacy reforms designed to free up 10 million doctor appointments across the country and cut waiting lists, as well as pointing to the Every Mind Matters initiative in which 1.2 million people have accessed talking therapies via the NHS.