Damning report reveals NHS wait times were out of control BEFORE Covid
NHS waiting lists were out of control for years before Covid, a damning report by MPs says.
It slams ministers for years of neglect leaving millions facing long delays.
The influential Public Accounts Committee said issues will not be fixed without extra NHS staff and better budgeting.
Chairman Meg Hillier said: “The Department of Health has overseen a long-term decline in elective and critical cancer care that is dragging our NHS and the heroic staff down.
"We are extremely concerned that there is no real plan to turn a large cash injection into better outcomes for people waiting for treatment.”
She said of NHS staff: “Exhausted and demoralised, they’ve emerged from two hellish years only to face longer and longer lists of sicker people.”
The PAC report said the NHS has missed surgery wait targets for six years in a row and has not hit its cancer targets since 2014.
The Department of Health and Social Care said: “The pandemic has put unprecedented pressures on healthcare and we are tackling this head on.”