'It's part of their plan to run down the NHS by underfunding it and then to claim that the only answer is more privatisation.'
In January this year, Rishi Sunak set out his five key priorities for 2023 and among them was a pledge to reduce NHS waiting lists.
Well yet another one of Sunak’s pledges lies in ruins, after figures released today showed that NHS waiting lists have hit a record high. An estimated 7.68 million people were waiting to start treatment at the end of July, up from 7.57 million in June.
It is the highest number since records began in August 2007 and marks the eighth consecutive month of increases.
Reacting to the news, Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting said: “For millions of patients across England, the NHS is no longer there for them when they need it.”
The latest figures showed that 389,952 people in England were waiting more than 52 weeks to start routine hospital treatment at the end of July, up from 383,083 at the end of June. It’s worth pointing out that Tory ministers have been arguing that while lists are growing, the number of people waiting for more than year for treatment was falling. The latest figures prove such Tory claims to be false.
The government had also set a target of ending all waits of more than 18 months by April this year, however some 7,289 people in England are estimated to have been waiting more than 18 months to start routine hospital treatment at the end of July.
Meanwhile, the proportion of cancer patients who saw a specialist within two weeks of being referred urgently by their GP fell from 80.5 per cent in June to 77.5 per cent in July, remaining below the target of 93 per cent.
Labour MP Richard Burgon posted in response to the latest figures: “BREAKING: NHS waiting lists hit a record high of 7.7m This is not just Tory incompetence.
“It’s part of their plan to run down the NHS by underfunding it and then to claim that the only answer is more privatisation.
“We’ve got the fight of our lives on to keep our NHS public!”
Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward
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