NHS waiting lists to triple this decade

RECORD NHS waiting lists could triple by 2030 as doctors warn spending your later years in pain is “the new norm” in Britain.

Along with the 6.5 million people in the queue for treatment, there is an estimated 3.3 million on a “hidden” list yet to be identified or diagnosed.

The study’s author Dr Dmitri Nepogodiev, of Birmingham University, said: “Unless we take this situation seriously, we risk sleepwalking into a public health catastrophe.”

Meanwhile, reports say patients in England waiting more than two years could be offered travel and accommodation to be treated elsewhere.