Prime minister admits failing on NHS waiting lists

Prime minister Rishi Sunak has admitted that he has failed to stick to his promise to reduce NHS waiting lists.

NHS England figures show, that at the end of November, there were 6.39 million patients waiting for 7.61 million treatments to be carried out. These numbers were down from 7.71 million treatments and 6.44 million patients at the end of October.

NHS England and the government had set a target of eliminating all waits of more than 18 months by April 2023, excluding exceptionally complex cases or patients who chose to wait longer. However, 11,168 people in England were waiting more than 18 months to start routine hospital treatment at the end of November, which is up from 10,506 at the end of October.

Cutting the number of patients waiting for NHS treatment was one of Sunak's five key priorities, however in an interview with Piers Morgan on TalkTV, he admitted that the government has not made enough progress.

Morgan asked Sunak if he had failed on that pledge and the prime minister replied: “Yes, we have.”

However, Sunak blamed the issue on the pandemic and strikes, rather than government failure.

However, it has been pointed out that the pandemic was taken into consideration when the pledge was made and that the government is in a position to reduce or end the strikes.

On X, Labour shadow health and social care secretary Wes Streeting said: "Waiting lists were at record highs BEFORE the pandemic.
"The crisis in the NHS - the worst in history - is a Conservative crisis that has been 14 years in the making.
"The longer the Tories are in power, the longer patients will wait."