The number of people waiting for NHS treatment in England increased by a further 18,600 in August as numbers continued to remain above 7.6 million people for yet another month, according to official data.
The data showed the number of referral to treatment (RTT) pathways where a patient was waiting to start treatment was 7,643,214 in August, up from 7,624,600 in July.
However, the number of unique patients is now estimated to be around 6.3 million, down from 6.4 million in July.
Among the 7.6 million awaiting treatment, in 282,664 cases the patient was waiting more than a year, in 45,527 cases they were waiting more than 65 weeks, in 3,335 cases they were waiting more than 78 weeks, and in 124 cases they were waiting for more than two years.
In 58.3% of cases the patient had been waiting up to 18 weeks, and so not meeting the 92% standard.
During the month, 1,653,814 new RTT pathways were started and 299,750 pathways were completed as a result of admitted treatment, with 1,111,634 completed in other ways where patients were not admitted.
For those pathways where the patient was waiting to start treatment at the end of August 2024, the median waiting time was 14.6 weeks. The 92nd percentile waiting time was 44.4 weeks.
Bad shape
Siva Anandaciva, chief analyst at The King’s Fund, said the NHS is approaching winter in “bad shape”.
“Industrial action is continuing, financial pressures are rising, and important performance targets continue to be missed,” Anandaciva said. “Despite the hard work of staff, patient care in the NHS continues to fall short of expectations.
“Today’s statistics show it has been three years since A&E performance was above the current temporary target of 78% of people waiting under four hours and nearly a decade since the official target of 95% of people being seen in four hours was met.
“It has been four years since the 18 minute target for the average ambulance response time to conditions such as strokes and heart attacks was met.”
Up to government to fix the problem
Anandaciva added that government has made its diagnosis that the NHS is broken, and now they must fix it.
“There have been some reports that the NHS will be put at the centre of the upcoming budget, but with a backdrop of constrained public finances, the proof will be in the pudding on how far the government are willing to go to support health and care services ahead of next year’s multi-year spending review,” Anandaciva said.
“While sticking plasters are not the solution to the crises facing the NHS, without an injection of more resources to get through the next few months and seeds of hope for the coming year, NHS services will have to make harsh trade-offs between immediate winter preparations and longer-term improvement.
“NHS leaders have already raised concerns about the impact of recruitment freezes on the quality of patient care, and those concerns will only increase as pressures mount over winter”
Significant moment
Anandaciva maintained the upcoming autumn budget is a “significant” moment for this government.
“To govern is to choose, and ministers have some tough choices about how they will balance their significant ambitions to improve health services with the reality of tight public finances,” Anandaciva said.
David Hare, CEO of the Independent Healthcare Providers Network (IHPN), said the figures showed that millions of NHS patients continue to wait far too long to get the care they need, preventing them from leading the active and productive lives they deserve.
“In his recent report, Lord Darzi identified a number of reasons for this failure to treat NHS patients in a timely manner, including the “disempowerment” of patients who increasingly unable to make choices around their care,” Hare said.
“This is despite recent research conducted by IHPN which shows that patients can be treated much more quickly when they are given a choice over where they receive their NHS care.
“Indeed, across England, patients on average need to travel just 12 miles – around 25 minutes by car – to a different provider to cut three months off their waiting time.
“Looking ahead to what will likely be a difficult winter, it is therefore crucial that the government does more to ensure the public are fully aware of the wide range of healthcare providers – both NHS and private – where they can receive treatment in their local area, free at the point of use.
“Given the important role that independent providers can play to providing both choice and additional capacity to local areas, we also want to see the NHS make much greater use of the private sector investment to build much needed new healthcare facilities, including for cancer, surgery and diagnostic care – supporting better access to NHS services for patients at a time when public resources are hugely stretched.”
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