NHS waiting lists at highest level in a decade

New figures show that the number of patients waiting longer than the national target time to start necessary NHS treatments has reached its highest level in a decade.

The NHS England data reveals that waiting lists for what is deemed routine treatments rose by nearly 60 per cent from 2.6 million patients in 2011 to 4.1 million in September of this year, breaching the four million mark for the first time since September 2007.

Additionally, over half a million people were made to wait longer than the mandated time to begin non-urgent treatment in September, the highest recorded since August 2008. Of that, 3,156 patients had been waiting more than a year.

The NHS is required to assume all reasonable steps to offer patients a range of alternative providers if it cannot provide treatment within 18 weeks of referral. At present, the NHS England target remains at the often-missed 18-week requirement for 92 per cent of patients. This September, 86.7 per cent of patients received treatment within that allotted time frame.

Rachel Power, chief executive of the Patients Association, said: "We risk returning to the days of unacceptably long waits for elective surgery - indeed, for some patients those days are clearly here again already. Patients needing lung or heart treatment will be in pain and discomfort, and facing the risk of their condition worsening because of their lengthy wait. If NHS trusts are to recover their performance against key targets, we must be realistic about the resources this will take, and how thinly the NHS's new funding settlement will be stretched."