- Record High: Waiting Lists for Routine Hospital Treatment in England
- Challenges in Cancer Care: Urgent Referrals and Specialist Timelines
- Ambulance Response Times and A&E Delays: Current Status and Improvements
Excluding exceptionally complex cases or patients who choose to wait longer, the government and NHS England have set the goal of eliminating all waits of over 18 months by April of this year, and all waits of over a year by March of 2025.
The number of people in England waiting to commence routine hospital treatment has hit a record high.
At the end of July, an estimated 7.68 million patients were awaiting treatment, up from 7.57 million in June.
It is the greatest number recorded since August 2007 and the eighth consecutive month of growth.
The government recently announced that the NHS will receive an additional £200 million this winter.
At the end of July, 389,952 English patients had waited over a year for normal hospital treatment and 7,289 over 18 months.
This is up from 383,083 and 7,177, respectively, at the end of June.
Excluding exceptionally complex cases or patients who choose to wait longer, the government and NHS England have set the goal of eliminating all waits of more than 18 months by April of this year, and all waits of more than one year by March of 2025.
Cancer delay periods
July saw 263,696 urgent cancer referrals from English GPs, up 1% from June’s 261,006 and 10% from July 2022’s 239,726.
The percentage of cancer patients who saw a specialist within two weeks of being referred decreased from 80.5% in June to 77.5% in July, falling short of the target of 93%, which will be eliminated in October.
There has been a slight improvement in cancer waiting periods. In July, 37% of those beginning treatment received their urgent referral more than two months in advance, a decrease from 41% in June and 38% in July 2022.
This is lower than the all-time low of 45% in January but higher than pre-pandemic levels (21% in August 2019).
Within 28 days, 74.1% of urgently referred cancer patients were diagnosed or ruled out, up from 73.5% the month before. The objective is 75%.
Times for ambulance response
August numbers revealed ambulances responded to Category 2 incidents such heart attacks and strokes in 31.5 minutes.
This was a significant improvement compared to August 2022 (42.6 minutes) and a minor improvement compared to July (31.8 minutes).
Nonetheless, the situation is still substantially worse than before the pandemic. In August of 2019, the equivalent response time was just 21,3 minutes, compared to 20,6 minutes in August of 2018.
A&E appearance
In August, 28,859 English A&E patients waited more than 12 hours, up 21% from 23,934 in July.
The number reached a record high of 54,573 in December 2022.
From 109,515 in July to 120,120 in August, 10% more people waited at least four hours to be admitted.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has made the reduction of waiting lists one of his top priorities for 2023, pledging in January that “lists will be reduced and people will receive the care they need faster.”
Wes Streeting, MP, the shadow health secretary, stated, “Record numbers of patients are waiting unacceptably long for healthcare, whether for an operation, an ambulance, or in A&E. “The National Health Service is no longer there for millions of patients in England when they need it.”
Professor Julian Redhead, NHS England’s national clinical director for urgent and emergency care, stated, “Despite ongoing pressures across the NHS, including record demand for emergency care this summer and an increase in COVID cases during July and August, NHS staff continue to provide excellent care to patients.
“Category 2 ambulance response times are more than ten minutes faster than they were a year ago. And significant progress continues to be made in reducing the longest waits for elective care despite months of industrial action.”
