Number of people on NHS waiting lists for 18 months up by 86pc

THE number of patients waiting more than 18 months for NHS treatment has increased by 86 per cent amid doctors’ strikes.

There were 13,164 people waiting longer than a year-and-a-half for an appointment or procedure at the end of last year, according to NHS figures.

This was the highest figure since February 2023 and almost double the low of 7,079 seen in July.

Earlier this week Rishi Sunak, the Prime Minister, admitted that he had failed to meet his pledge to cut the NHS waiting list. The overall waiting list fell for the third consecutive month, by 6,000, to 7.6 million, but is still about 400,000 higher than it was at the time of his pledge.

Meanwhile, the number of those waiting longer than 18 months has risen for the fifth consecutive month. The post-pandemic backlog led to the figure swelling to 124,911 at its peak in September 2021.

It had been coming down since until a reversal in that trend occurred last summer, coinciding with the most disruptive doctor strikes in NHS history.

It is now higher than it was in April 2023, when Mr Sunak and the NHS had set a target of eliminating 18-month waits altogether.

Junior doctors first went on strike in March, and were joined on the picket lines by senior doctors striking for the first time in July.

Junior medics also walked out in the three days leading up to Christmas, before a record six -days of industrial action in January, which is not yet reflected in the waiting list figures.

Wes Streeting MP, the Labour shadow health secretary, said patients were “waiting longer for NHS treatment than ever before” with “things getting worse and worse”.

“The last Labour government cut the maximum waiting time from 18 months to 18 weeks,” he said.

“After 14 years of Conservative vandalism of the NHS, more patients wait longer than 18 weeks than ever before, and the number of patients waiting 18 months has doubled in the past few months.” The latest figures also show 98,374 people had been waiting 65 weeks or more, up by almost 4,000, with the NHS set to miss its target of eliminating these numbers by March.

A further 282 people were waiting more than two years – the highest figure since June. Cancer waiting times were also the worst on record in 2023, analysis by The Telegraph has found.

A total of 23,419 patients were forced to wait more than 104 days to start treatment after being referred by their GP for suspected cancer – the NHS target is 62 days and 59.8 per cent began treatment within that time.

This was up from 17,885 in 2022 and more than double the 9,025 during pre-pandemic in 2019.

It comes as the King began treatment for cancer this week, shortly after being diagnosed during a routine procedure for an enlarged prostate. Gemma Peters, chief executive at Macmillan Cancer Support, said the data “confirms the shocking truth that 2023 was the worst year yet for cancer treatment delays”.

“These alarming figures mark a new low and highlight the desperate situation for people living with cancer.”

Baroness Delyth Morgan, chief executive at Breast Cancer Now, said that it was “alarming that the proportion of people waiting over 104 days – which is way beyond the 62-day target – to get a diagnosis and start treatment is over five times higher now than at the start of the pandemic”.

The disruption caused during winter by doctor strikes also saw record pressures placed on A&E. About 2.23 million people attended A&E an emergency department last month, the most ever recorded in a January.

A Department for Health spokesman said: “Cutting waiting lists is one of the Government’s top five priorities and, despite winter pressures and the impact of industrial action, overall NHS waiting lists have decreased for the third month in a row.

“We’re determined to continue improving patient care, having already delivered on our promise to create 5,000 extra permanent hospital beds and 10,000 hospital at home beds, freeing up capacity and cutting waiting times.”

‘Patients are waiting longer for NHS treatment than ever before’ ‘These alarming figures highlight the desperate situation for people with cancer’