Record numbers wait for NHS treatment

The coronavirus pandemic has left a record total of more than two million people are having to wait more than 18 weeks to start hospital treatment, the latest figures show.

The waiting list rose to 2.15 million in July – more than three times the 2019 figure of 620,454 – and the highest monthly number since current records began in August 2007.

The number waiting longer than 52 weeks was also at the highest level for more than a decade, the NHS England statistics show – at 83,203, the highest number since November 2008.

President of the Royal College of Surgeons. Prof Neil Morten sens aid :" Patients who have now been waiting many months, even a year or more for their treatment, cannot afford to wait until next spring.

"We ur gently need to build up our hospital reserves if we are to see this winter through. Flu, together with continuing local covid outbreaks, must not bring surgery to a standstill again."

Dr Susan Crossland, president of the Society for Acute Medicine, called on the Government to "publish full winter crisis planning proposals which include investment into staffing and estates to cope".

She said: "As we have seen for months now, the data shows the NHS is struggling hugely despite the drop in elective work and we are now seeing increased pressures with admissions creeping up and the isolation of suspected cases.

The total number of people admitted for routine treatment in hospitals was down by about half in July compared with a year ago, but the fall is not as steep as earlier in the pandemic.