Waiting lists still high, more private providers help3 Mar 2024 19:17
Still a long way to go to bring down NHS England waiting lists. To do so, the NHS will need to be using private providers for a lot more work.
NHS waiting lists falling but will stay above pre-Covid levels until 2030, IFS says
Length of time patients must wait for A&E care, diagnostic tests, cancer care and surgery will remain high, report predicts
"However, in sobering news for the Conservatives and Labour, the thinktank also said that whoever forms the next government will not get the waiting list back down to pre-pandemic levels by the end of the next parliament, which is likely to run until the end of 2029.
The length of time patients are forced to wait for treatments such as A&E care, diagnostic tests and cancer care, as well as planned surgery – already the worst on record – are also likely to remain frustratingly long.
In January last year the prime minister said that “NHS waiting lists will fall and people will get the care they need more quickly” was one of the five promises he asked voters to judge him by. However, he admitted recently that he had not fulfilled that promise.
The waiting list stood at 7.2m when he made the commitment but by December it had risen to 7.6m. Sunak blamed strikes by NHS staff since December 2022, which have forced hospitals to rearrange 1.4m operations and outpatient appointments.
The size of the waiting list, which covers procedures patients are waiting for under the NHS’s referral to treatment scheme, has fallen in each of the past three months, from 7.8m to 7.6m. That is primarily because hospitals have made determined efforts to tackle the backlog, for example by putting on extra sessions of surgery in the evenings and at weekends."
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2024/feb/29/nhs-waiting-lists-falling-but-will-stay-above-pre-covid-levels-until-2030-ifs-says
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