Waiting list for NHS heart care doubles in three years

NHS waiting lists for heart care have doubled in less than three years, with hundreds of thousands of patients facing delays that can cost them their lives, MPS will hear today.

Analysis shows that the heart care waiting list now stands at 405,960 in England, compared with 203,893 in February 2021.

The British Heart Foundation (BHF) said the figures, which will prompt a debate in the Commons today, were “staggering”.

It follows warnings of a steep rise in heart deaths since the pandemic, with an extra 500 a week as patients struggle to access health service care and delays to ambulance response times continue.

The charity said “extreme pressure” on services and the impact of Covid on the heart were two of the likely factors that are fuelling the increase.

Delays in accessing tests mean that symptoms, which could have been treated easily, are not being picked up until the disease is far more severe and, in some cases, terminal.

The doubling in heart treatment waiting lists comes as the overall NHS backlog of cases had risen by 60 per cent, from 4.8 million to 7.6 million.

Around 40 per cent of heart patients on a list in England are waiting longer than the maximum target of 18 weeks for treatment to begin, latest NHS monthly data show, which is a rise from 24 per cent in February 2021.

An NHS spokesman said: “While the pandemic inevitably had an impact, hard-working staff are making good progress on the NHS’S elective recovery plan, with the overall waiting list for elective care coming down despite significant pressure on services.”