Waiting lists are longest on record for routine treatment By Lizzie Roberts

NHS waiting lists for routine hospital treatment are the longest since records began, new figures show, as referrals for urgent cancer treatment also fell by 20 per cent in June.

The number of people waiting longer than 18 weeks for routine hospi- tal treatment was more than 1.85million in June – the highest since records started in December 2007.

The impact of the pandemic on the health service is still taking its toll months on, as urgent cancer referrals were also down in June and A&E attendances last month fell 30 per cent, compared with last year’s figures.

In May, 1,448,357 patients waited longer than the 18-week target to begin hospital treatment, more than double the 576,237 of a year ago.

But figures released by NHS England yesterday show that more than 1.85 million patients are now waiting longer than this target, which is 52 per cent of all patients waiting to start treatment.

The data also show the number of people waiting more than a year to start hospital treatment in England rose to 50,536, up from 1,089 in June last year, and the highest number for any calendar month since Feb 2009.

A total of 153,134 urgent cancer referrals were made by GPS in England in June, down from 194,047 in the same month last year – a drop of 21 per cent.

And urgent breast cancer referrals showed an even bigger dip, down from 14,885 in June 2019 to 8,495 in the same month this year, a fall of 43 per cent.

Sara Bainbridge, the head of policy at Macmillan Cancer Support, described the figures as “worryingly low” and said they suggest “an alarming backlog of undiagnosed cancer”.

Last month, 1,589,194 people attended A&E compared with 2,265,050 in the same month last year, a 30 per cent fall.

Emergency admissions to A&E departments were also down 15 per cent.

52pc

The percentage of patients waiting longer than 18 weeks to begin hospital treatment in June