15.06.18
Waits for NHS treatment highest in 10 years
Over half a million patients are waiting more than 18 weeks for NHS treatment, new figures have revealed.
NHS England’s ‘referral to treatment’ (RTT) statistics for April 2018, published today, show that 500,068 patients waited more than the recommended 18 weeks to start planned treatment.
This is the highest since August 2008, when 520,000 people were waiting 18 weeks or more for planned treatment.
Furthermore, just 88% of patients were seen within 18 weeks - far below the government’s target of 92% of patients starting treatment within the recommended time frame; a target that has not been met since February 2016.
The Royal College of Surgeons (RCS) has warned that the data also reveals that NHS England and NHS Improvement are missing their target of ensuring that, by March 2019, the waiting list size does not exceed the level at March 2018, with over four million patients on the waiting list for the first time.
Mr. Ian Eardley, vice president of the RCS, called the figures “very worrying”.
“Disappointingly, and despite the efforts of frontline staff, NHS waiting lists have now ballooned to levels that we have not seen since 2008.
“These patients are people who have been diagnosed with a condition that requires hospital treatment by a consultant doctor and a high proportion of them will be for operations, such as a hip a knee replacement.”
He warned that it is still unclear how the NHS plans to catch up with the backlog of planned surgery that was caused by the winter pressures earlier this year.
“If patients have to wait excessively long for surgery there is a risk their condition will deteriorate and the treatment will be less effective.
“It is also very distressing - and debilitating for someone who is living with a painful condition - to have to wait a long time for treatment,” he added.
Janet Davies, chief executive of the Royal College of Nursing, said: “Cancelling non-urgent care may have helped the NHS fight through one of the worst winters in recent memory, but patients in need of elective surgery should not have to pay the price for chronic staff shortages and years of underfunding.”
She called it “truly shameful” that the number of people waiting more than 18 weeks has reached current levels, with the number waiting over a year approaching 3,000.
“For these people, the Prime Minister’s promise of more NHS funding cannot come soon enough.
“But more funding is only half the battle. Addressing the 40,000 nurse vacancies in England alone is not just a question of money, but requires long-term workforce planning and a determined focus on improving recruitment and retention,” she added.
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