Hospital patients up 5m in 12 years

THE number of patients in NHS hospitals in England rose by five million over 12 years, according to a report.

The latest figures show emergency, planned and day-case patient numbers soared by more than 40 per cent since 2004-05 to 17.6 million in 2016-17. The ageing population, obesity crisis and diabetes have all been blamed.

People being treated as outpatients waited 11 days longer in 2016-17 than nine years before, with the average wait rising from 37 days in 2007-08 to 48 days.

Researchers at the University of York spelled out the pressure mounting on the NHS, which has seen visits to A&E rise almost nine per cent in a decade.

But they added that NHS ‘productivity’ – how much the service does using limited resources – had grown more than twice as fast as the wider economy. Dr Adriana Castelli, who led the study, said: ‘These statistics show what an incredible job NHS staff are doing under pressure.’