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Elective waiting list reaches seven million

Medical leaders have warned that the NHS faces pressure from all directions, as August figures showed 7,003,256 people in England were waiting for planned hospital treatment.

Waits of over two years had fallen from an all-time high of 23,778 in January to 2,646 in August.

Tim Mitchell, vice president of the Royal College of Surgeons, said: “The health service still hasn’t managed to return to pre-pandemic activity levels.

“The NHS is now under pressure from all sides.”