The number of people waiting for NHS treatment increased by more than 33,000 in April, according to official data.
The data showed the number of referral to treatment (RTT) pathways where a patient was waiting to start treatment was 7,572,563, up from 7,538,800 in March.
However, the number of unique patients was estimated to be around 6.3 million, unchanged from March.
Among those waiting for treatment, in 302,589 cases the patient was waiting for more than a year, in 50,397 cases they were waiting more than 65 weeks, in 5,013 cases they were waiting more than 78 weeks, and in 275 cases they were waiting more than two years.
In 58.3% of cases the patient had been waiting up to 18 weeks, thus not meeting the 92% standard.
In April 2024, 1,757,699 new RTT pathways were started and 310,373 pathways were completed as a result of admitted treatment while 1,170,779 were completed in other ways (non-admitted).
For those pathways where the patient was waiting to start treatment at the end of April 2024, the median waiting time was 13.9 weeks. The 92nd percentile waiting time was 44.8 weeks.
Stark reminder
Tim Gardner, assistant director of policy at the Health Foundation, said the figures are a stark reminder of the scale of the challenge facing the next government.
“The waiting list for routine hospital care remains at near record levels at 7.57 million, having virtually tripled over the last decade,” Gardner said.
“While there has been some progress in recent months, there is still a huge mountain to climb with over 300,000 waits of over one year – compared to less than 2,000 before the pandemic.
“The situation in urgent and emergency care is equally dire; more than one in 10 patients now spends over 12 hours in A&E, with the four hour waiting time target not met since July 2015.
‘’To make good on manifesto pledges, whoever forms the next government needs to prioritise stable, long-term investment in the NHS to keep pace with demand and improve services for the future.
“This includes addressing staff shortages, modernising crumbling buildings, replacing outdated equipment and reforming the social care system.
“Without this, commitments to substantially cut waiting times are just empty promises.”
Bad news for the PM
Brett Hill, head of health and protection at independent consultancy Broadstone, said the figures were bad news for the Prime Minister who listed a reduction in NHS waiting lists as one of his five key pledges in election campaigning.
“All of this highlights the difficulty that any incoming government will face in reducing the backlog,” Hill said.
“All parties have made commitments to tackle the issues within our public health service but progress is likely to be limited in the next Parliament, certainly at the start of the period, due to the finite pool of trained staff, shortages in scanning equipment and poor productivity.
“The impact of this stubbornly high figure has been feeding through into our sluggish economic performance for some time, with this week’s labour market data showing a record 2.83 million people are economically inactive because of long-term sickness.
“Record private health admissions have shone a spotlight on the debate around the role of the private sector in recent weeks.
“In our view it has a vital role to play in alleviating pressure on the public health service as, ultimately, treatments not provided by the private sector will see yet more people relying on the NHS.
“Improving accessibility and affordability to the private health market will help more employees get the healthcare they need to be productive at work, reducing absenteeism and increasing productivity and economic growth while reducing pressure on public health services.”
NHS under incredible pressure
Siva Anandaciva, chief analyst at The King’s Fund, said the figures show the NHS is still under incredible pressure with patients waiting far longer than they should.
“It’s no surprise that the NHS is again at the top of many polls on what matters most to voters as we head towards a general election,” Anandaciva added.
“In the 2015 election, NHS waiting times were almost neutralised as a political topic because they were still broadly met month in, month out.
“But heading into this election, waiting lists targets are routinely missed up and down the length of England and we are seeing performance challenges that would have been unfathomable 10 years ago.
“The latest figures show over one in four of people waited more than the target of four hours in A&E, people are waiting 33 minutes for an ambulance on average for emergency cases like strokes and heart attacks when the target is 18 minutes.
“Waiting lists for routine operations have continued to increase to 7.6 million, which is higher than last month, higher than this time last year, and dramatically higher than the 2019 election – when it stood at 4.6 million.
“The public still firmly back the existing taxpayer-funded NHS model, but satisfaction with services has declined to the lowest level since records began in 1983.
“This week, political parties are setting out how they would tackle the crisis facing our health and care service, should they be elected.
“This includes how they believe they would ‘meet the moment’ of an NHS that has faced a global pandemic, sustained declines in performance, endemic workforce shortages and industrial action.
“But more than anything, the public deserve honesty and realism – history suggests that improvements to NHS performance will take time, money and staff to deliver.
“Any future government serious about changing the downward spiral of NHS performance needs to look beyond what is happening within hospitals.
“There needs to be a plan to bolster community and primary care, make good on the much-needed social care reform that previous governments have failed to deliver, and invest in the full range of preventative measures that can help keep people healthy in the first place.
“High on the to-do list of the winning party will be finding a solution to resolve ongoing industrial disputes taking place across the NHS. The strikes didn’t cause the NHS backlog, but they make waiting lists harder to clear, impacting patient care and sapping the morale of the existing workforce.
“History has shown that the NHS can deliver better care and shorter waits for patients when it is given the right resources and has a coherent improvement plan.
“At the end of the day, politicians, national bodies, health care staff and the public all want timely and high-quality care to be available for all – it is now up to the government to make that possible.”
Cross party commitments
David Hare, chief executive of the Independent Healthcare Providers Network (IHPN), said with NHS waiting lists continuing to rise, it was welcome to see there is now a clear cross-party commitment to making greater use of the independent sector to cut the NHS backlog.
“YouGov polling this week found that using independent sector capacity to tackle NHS waiting lists was one of the most popular policies put forward by any party in the run up to the election,” Hare said. “This is unsurprising given that in the last year alone activity by the sector removed more than 1.5 million people from the NHS waiting list, with almost one in five NHS operations now delivered by independent providers.
“Given the scale of the challenge, the task for the next government will be to turn these welcome words into action, including through fully ensuring patients are aware of their “right to choose” where they receive their NHS treatment which will make a real contribution to cutting the waiting list and help ensure patients can get the care they need.”
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