The number of people waiting for hospital treatment in England has exceeded 5 million for the first time. NHS England’s latest set of monthly performance figures, show that the waiting list stood at 5,122,017 in April – up 171,720 in a month.
That is the highest figure since records began in 2007, prompting fresh concerns that patients are suffering as a result of delays. The total is a significant rise on the 4.95 million who were on the waiting list in March, which in turn saw an increase of 252,000 (5.4%) on the 4.7 million recorded in February.
The number of people being forced to wait at least a year for planned, non-urgent treatment in hospital, especially surgery, has fallen for the first time in more than a year but remains a serious problem.
Thursday’s figures show that 385,490 people have now been waiting more than 52 weeks, 50,637 down on the 436,127 in that position last month.
Full story in The Guardian, 10 June 2021