The NHS made marginal progress in reducing the number of people waiting for treatment – cutting the number on the waiting list by almost 28,000 people in England as of the start of the year, according to official data.
But the King’s Fund says the country has now become “‘acclimatised to the extraordinary” when assessing NHS performance.
Data for December 2023 showed the number of referral to treatment (RTT) pathways where a patient was waiting to start treatment was 7,603,675 people.
Today’s figures on January 2024 data showed the figure has now dropped to 7,575,914 people.
Among the 7.57 million, in 321,394 cases the patient was waiting for more than 52 weeks, in 92,213 cases they were waiting more than 65 weeks, in 14,013 cases they were waiting more than 78 weeks, and in 376 cases they were waiting more than 104 weeks.
In 57.0% of cases the patient had been waiting up to 18 weeks and so not meeting the 92% standard.
As of January 2024, 1,808,101 new RTT pathways were started and 308,566 pathways were completed as a result of admitted treatment. A total of 1,261,985 pathways were completed in other ways (non-admitted).
For those pathways where the patient was waiting to start treatment at the end of January 2024, the median waiting time was 15.0 weeks. The 92nd percentile waiting time was 45.3 weeks
Acclimatised to the extraordinary
According to Sarah Woolnough, CEO of The King’s Fund, the narrative of NHS performance has become “acclimatised to the extraordinary”.
“We used to comment about 18-week waits for routine care rather than 65 weeks, or talk about winter pressures rather than year-round crises,” Woolnough continued.
“Today’s figures show that it is unlikely that most of the targets set by the government for the NHS to meet by March 2024 will be achieved. Those targets had already been watered down from the standards set out in the NHS Constitution.
“The government set interim targets such as 76% of people being seen within four hours in A&E, compared with the NHS standard of 95%.
“Ministers also set the expectation that no heart attack or stroke patients would wait more than 30 minutes for an ambulance – far longer than the NHS standard of 18 minutes.
“Even with these lower goals, both these targets are unlikely to be met by the end of the month.”
Woolnough added that in the coming days, we can expect to see the publication of new national guidance for the year ahead, which she suspects will be a “continued departure from the NHS constitutional standards”.
“While industrial action and the Covid-19 pandemic exacerbated pressures, the decline of performance is now over a decade long due to political failure to address the multiple pressures facing health and care services,” Woolnough continued.
“Last week, the government announced a productivity drive in the NHS that will kick in from next year.
“While this commitment is welcome, more needs to be done if the government is serious about long-term progress.
“The solutions will lie in bolstering out-of-hospital care such as primary, community and social care services, making health and care a more attractive place to build a career, and ramping up efforts to help people live healthier lives.”
Tim Gardner, assistant director of policy at the Health Foundation, said there is “no silver bullet for improving the NHS.
“The extra £3.4bn earmarked for technological improvements in last week’s Budget was welcome but this won’t kick in until 2025/26,” Gardner continued.
“The government will need to go much further if it is to make meaningful improvements in patient and staff experience.
“This means consistent, long-term focused action to realise the ambitions set out in the NHS workforce plan and support staff to improve care and increase productivity.”