NHS waiting list could reach 10 million by April

A new report has warned that waiting lists for NHS surgery in England could hit 10 million by April, meaning one in six people could be waiting for treatment in a few months time.

Reform said that the impact of the coronavirus pandemic had turned the NHS into a ‘national Covid service’ with six million fewer referrals for treatment in 2020. The publications claims that delays in treatments could have dire consequences for patients with an estimated 1,660 additional lung cancer deaths.

Therefore, the right-wing think tank has called for NHS hospitals to use more private sector capacity to reduce delays for patients. Reform claims capacity in private sector hospitals, where NHS England has secured new contracts to take on additional work during the virus surge, have not been effectively used.

The report calls for structural issues in the health service to be addressed and highlights 141,808 worth of hospital bed-days caused by delayed discharges.

It said the lack of capacity in social care and community services was a primary reason for delays and called for more funding for non-hospital settings.

The publication also encourages for NHS England to mandate the publication of ‘waiting list recovery plans’ by NHS trusts setting out how each hospital will use the private sector.

Eleonora Harwich, Reform director of research, said: “We must never have the equivalent of a ‘national covid service’ again. This is a system problem and in no way detracts from the heroic effort of NHS staff battling Covid-19. However, the cessation of so much non-Covid care means patients are facing more serious health conditions or disabilities, and some will die prematurely. It is essential that the government makes tackling the backlog of undiagnosed disease and untreated illness a national priority.”

Professor Stephen Powis, NHS England’s medical director, responded: “The NHS has never been a Covid only service - for every Covid patient in hospital, the NHS is treating three people for other conditions - and it is obviously a disservice to the work done by our staff who have kept services going throughout the pandemic to suggest otherwise.

“Even during the highest point of pressure during the pandemic, the waiting list was actually lower than it was at the same point last year and twice as many elective treatments were delivered as well as around three times as many diagnostic checks in the second wave, compared to the first.”