NHS backlog disproportionately affecting deprived areas

New analysis has found that the NHS backlog is being disproportionately shouldered by people in poorer areas, growing by as much as 50 per cent in some parts of the country.

Amid a stark warning that waiting lists are likely to ‘grow significantly’ because millions of people did not seek help during the pandemic, with the 50 per cent figure in the most deprived parts of England comparing with nearly 35 per cent in the most affluent areas.

The King’s Fund research, which analysed the backlog of 5.61 million people, also found that those in deprived areas were also nearly twice as likely as those in the wealthiest to wait more than a year for treatment.

Of patients on waiting lists in the most deprived areas, seven per cent have been waiting a year or more for treatment, compared with four per cent of those in the most affluent areas.

A call for the government to take urgent action on waiting times was made by the King’s Fund and the social care champion, Healthwatch England, which also released a poll showing the toll on people’s physical and mental health from waiting for treatment.

Healthwatch England’s survey of 1,600 people who were on the waiting list or had a loved one in need of treatment found that 54 per cent said it was affecting their mental health. It set out a series of recommendations, calling for ‘interim support’ such as physiotherapy, pain relief and mental health support and for the NHS to ‘reprioritise’ treatment if people’s needs changed.

Siva Anandaciva, chief analyst at the King’s Fund, said: “It is not a surprise that waits for NHS care vary across the country, but the fact that patients in deprived areas are nearly twice as likely to wait a year or more for planned treatment should be a wake-up call for a government that has committed to levelling up the country, and ring alarm bells for MPs in ‘red wall’ constituencies.”