There were 7,218,001 patients on the NHS England waiting list for treatment to be started in February – another record for the service – up from 7,213,436 in January and 4.4 million in February 2020.
The number of people enduring the longest waits has been trimmed, but there was a warning that sustained pressure will continue to push the waiting list up.
The latest figure included 29,778 patients who had been waiting more than 18 months for treatment, 15,853 or 34% fewer than the 45,631 on the list in January.
A further 1,038 patients had been waiting more than two years – this was down from 1,222 in January.
There were still 362,498 people who had been waiting more than a year which was a down again from 379,245 the previous month.
The median waiting time was 14.5 weeks – down from 14.6 weeks in January and up from 13.2 weeks in February 2022.
‘Expect waiting list to continue to swell’
Health think-tank The King’s Fund acknowledged there was some improvement, but emphasised overall the figures continued to paint a very gloomy picture and were likely to worsen before getting better.
“In their elective recovery plan, ministers set the NHS an ambitious target to eradicate 18-month waits for planned hospital care by April 2023,” said The King’s Fund senior analyst Saoirse Mallorie.
“Today’s figures show that huge strides have been made towards that goal, bringing down the number of 18-month waits from 69,300 to 29,800 in a year.
“However, patients are still facing unacceptably long waits and we can expect to see the overall waiting list, which currently stands at 7.2 million people, continue to swell as the NHS grapples with sustained pressures.”
Mallorie also noted that the figures showed the strain on accident and emergency departments with more than 10% of people spending more than 12 hours in A&E in February.
And the number of medically fit patients waiting to be discharged remained high, illustrating the pressure on other health and care services.
“Bringing down waiting times and making it easier for people to access treatment will need a long-term approach from politicians and national leaders,” Mallorie continued.
“This needs to include the publication and funding of the much-awaited NHS workforce plan and a renewed focus on prevention and social care.”