As NHS waiting lists hit NEW record high the 10 worst hit hospitals revealed – is yours on the list?
NHS waiting lists have hit another record high in a blow to Rishi Sunak’s plans to bust the backlog.
A total of 7.3million people in England are waiting for hospital treatment – up by 114,000 between February and March.
More than 400,000 are children waiting for vital healthcare, in what doctors have branded a “national scandal”.
Figures also show hospitals failed to hit a target of clearing all waits longer than 18 months by April, with 10,737 still overdue from 2021.
NHS bosses blamed just 10 out of 144 hospital trusts for nearly half of the extremely long waits.
The Royal College of Surgeons said strikes, flu and Covid have “hampered recovery efforts”.
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Vice-president Tim Mitchell said: “It is disappointing that the target to eliminate 78 week waits hasn’t been met, but it is not for want of trying.
“Staff have worked incredibly hard in some of the most difficult circumstances the NHS has ever faced.”
Dr Camilla Kingdon, of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, said: “It is a national scandal that over 400,000 children are stuck in limbo on a list, waiting for treatment.
“These children could fill Wembley stadium four times over.
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“Of this number, 17,991 of them have been waiting for more than a year.”
Ministers set a target of ending 18-month waits by last month and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said “NHS waiting lists will fall” when he laid out his top priorities in January.
The PM said today: “Reducing 18-month waits by over 90 per cent is huge progress.
“We still have work to do, but backed by record government investment and the ongoing efforts of the NHS, I am confident we will get patients the care they need more quickly.”
It was brighter news for emergency patients, with A&E and ambulance delays tumbling from winter records.
The average wait for a Category 2 call, including heart attacks and strokes, was 28.5 minutes in April - the fastest for two years and down from 90 minutes in the winter.
Casualty waits improved, too, with 75 per cent of patients seen within four hours compared to 65 per cent in December.
Cancer charities said patients are starting treatment quicker but warned two in five still wait longer than two months.
NHS England CEO Amanda Pritchard said: “We have slashed the numbers waiting the longest for care, with 18-month waits down more than 90 per cent on their peak.
“Ambulance response times are the fastest they have been for almost two years while A&E performance has also improved.
“There is still much work to be done but these are remarkable achievements given all the NHS has had to contend with.”
10 HOSPITAL TRUSTS WITH THE MOST 18-MONTH WAITS (March '23)
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- Manchester University NHS Trust (969)
- University Hospitals of Leicester (837)
- Royal Devon University Healthcare (695)
- University Hospitals of North Midlands (561)
- Sheffield Teaching Hospitals (410)
- Plymouth Hospitals (410)
- East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust (405)
- Worcestershire Acute Hospitals (310)
- Royal Cornwall Hospitals (305)
- East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Trust (262)
Data: NHS England