Rishi: Our plan to cut NHS waits is working

...but experts warn cancer treatment ‘beyond breaking point’

RISHI Sunak says his “NHS plan is working” as the waiting list for routine hospital treatment in England fell for the fifth month in a row.

An estimated 7.54 million treatments were waiting to be carried out at the end of February, down slightly from 7.58 million in January.

And the Prime Minister said this 40,000 drop was part of a reduction of nearly 200,000 over five months.

It comes after the Daily Express yesterday revealed a radical NHS plan to fast track care and free up beds.

Mr Sunak said: “A drop of almost 200,000 in the last five months shows what the NHS can do for patients. Had there been no strike action, an extra 430,000 patients could have been treated. We still have more work to do but our plan is working.”

Junior doctors in England walked out for four days in February.

But Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting said: “Waiting lists are still 320,000 longer than when he became Prime Minister, despite his promise to cut them.”

Elsewhere, 78.1% of patients urgently referred for suspected cancer were diagnosed or cleared within 28 days – up from 70.9% the previous month, and the first time the target of 75% was exceeded.

But the proportion waiting less than two months for treatment remained well below the 85% target. Some 63.9% waited longer than 62 days from an urgent referral to their first definitive treatment in February, up from 62.3% in January. Oncologist Professor Pat Price, of the #CatchUpWithCancer campaign, said: “Cancer treatment capacity is beyond breaking point. What good is a diagnosis if we don’t treat the patients on time?”

The NHS recovery plan target to admit, transfer or discharge 76% of patients attending A&E within four hours was also not met.

Dr Tim Cooksley, former president of the Society for Acute Medicine, said hospital short-term incentives and initiatives meant “the sickest and most vulnerable patients waiting longer – which is clinically illogical”.

Some 74.2% were seen in four hours in A&Es in March, up from 70.9% in February and the highest since last April.

Ambulances took an average of 33 minutes and 50 seconds last month to respond to emergency calls such as heart attacks, strokes and sepsis. This is down from 36 minutes and 20 seconds in February, but below the target of 18 minutes.

But Danielle Jefferies, at The King’s Fund, said: “Waiting 30 minutes for an ambulance after a stroke has become normalised.”

NHS national medical director Professor Sir Stephen Powis said that the latest performance data “demonstrates once again how the NHS is working flat out to recover services” despite “enormous demand”.

He added that industrial action “has had a significant impact”.