The NHS waiting list has fallen, although not by much. The number of patients waiting has fallen from 6.5 million to 6.44 million, while the number of ‘waits’ for procedures and treatments has fallen by just 60,000, from 7.77 million to 7.71 million. On the face of things, this sounds like good news: it is the first fall in the waiting list since November last year. But look a little closer and there isn’t all that much to celebrate. There are still half a million more waits now than at the start of the year.
Today’s numbers are bleak. A number of NHS targets are being missed: most concerningly, waits of over 78 and 104 weeks should have been eliminated by now. Instead, there are 10,500 and 190 patients waiting on these lists respectively. The government is fast approaching its deadline for the abolition of 65-week waits – yet there remains over 107,000 on the list. And another NHS target – that 92 per cent of patients should be seen within 18 weeks of referral – has not been met. A little over half of all cases currently meet this threshold. Although small improvements have been seen, patients are still being left waiting far too long for healthcare.
Accident and emergency departments attendances are at 2.1 million and departments have seen just under 70 per cent of patients within four hours of presentation – a worsening situation on last month – while there were over 144,000 A&E waits longer than 12 hours. It’s not just inconvenience this causes: A&E-related excess deaths have risen by almost a third in one year.
Long waiting times are likely to be made worse by winter. The health service is becoming more overwhelmed with seasonal viruses. Last week, the numbers of flu patients in hospitals increased by two thirds on the week before, while more than 500 patients were in hospital with norovirus, almost a quarter higher than the previous week. Bed blocking remains a serious issue for NHS hospitals: there are approximately 13,000 patients fit for discharge who remain in hospital each day.
Meanwhile, staff absences have increased to an average of 49,020 a day last week, more than 2,000 higher a day than the week before. It comes at a time when staff continue to feel disheartened by their pay and working conditions, and the BMA has planned seven days of walk-outs over the Christmas period.
On the surface, today’s figures suggest that Sunak may just possibly be on track to getting waiting lists under control. But the overall waiting list figures are deceptive: there remain far too many patients left waiting to be seen in emergency departments, waiting to be seen after referral and waiting to leave hospital wards. The health service is still struggling.
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