Record high hospital waiting list in England as 5.1 million need treatment
The number of people waiting for routine hospital treatment has topped five million – the highest number ever recorded.
In total 5,122,017 million people were waiting to begin treatment at the end of April, 2021, NHS England figures show – the highest number since records began in August 2007.
The figure has increased every month since May 2020, when it was 3.83 million people.
It means the number of people having to wait longer than 52 weeks to start treatment is around 35 times higher than those waiting a year earlier.
The surge in NHS waiting lists comes amid warnings staff face burnout
Just over 11,000 people had to wait more than a year to begin treatment in April 2020.
But in April this year the number stood at 385,490 – down from 436,127 in the previous month.
It comes days after MPs warned NHS and social care staff burnout has reached an “emergency” level and poses a risk to the future of services – as former health secretary Jeremy Hunt said healthcare staff are facing “unacceptable pressure” at work.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock is this morning being grilled by MPs over the government’s response to the pandemic after former Downing Street advisor, Dominic Cummings, said he should have been fired for his handling of the crisis.
Mr Hancock hit back by saying: “You can’t respond to a pandemic by pointing fingers”.
Matt Hancock is being questioned by MPs over the government’s handling of the pandemic
The longest waits were for treatments like knee or hip replacements.
People with arthritis are “bearing the brunt” of the covid crisis said Tracey Loftis, head of policy and public affairs at charity Versus Arthritis.
“It is critical that people with arthritis are not left struggling in pain with their lives put on hold,” Ms Loftis said.
“As longer waits lead to more severe joint damage and reduce the chance of future operations being successful, this issue becomes even more unacceptable.”
Brenda, 61, from Petersfield, has been waiting more than a year for a double hip replacement.
She’s put her house on the market because climbing the stairs is such a struggle.
She told Sky News: “I haven’t left my house for a year now, apart from going to my hospital appointments.
“I’ve been told I’m definitely still on the waiting list for surgery, but they can’t give me any indication of a timeline. They just leave you hanging, thinking what am I going to do with my life?”
People in need of hip or knee replacement operations face long delays for treatment
Almost 210,000 urgent cancer referrals were made by GPs in England in April 2021 – more than double the 80,031 made a year earlier, the NHS England data showed.
The equivalent figure for April 2019 was 199,217.
And just over 64% of patients are being treated within the government’s 18 week target.
Prior to the pandemic, this number was around 83% – 90% but plunged to a low of 46.8% last July, at the end of the first COVID-19 wave.
It has been around 65% for most of this year.
Meanwhile A&E hospital admissions in England have risen 65% compared to a year ago, NHS England said – but this is said to be a reflection of lower than usual numbers for May 2020 due to the pandemic.
A total of 2.08 million attendances were recorded in May 2021, up from 1.26 million in May 2020.
The equivalent figure for May 2019, a non-pandemic year, was 2.17 million.
A 15-year-old boy has died after “getting into difficulty” in a lake in southeast London, police say.
Officers and paramedics were called shortly after 3pm on Friday to Beckenham Place Park in Lewisham.
The Metropolitan Police said a boy “was recovered from the lake” at around 10.42pm the same day.
“He was taken to hospital where he was sadly pronounced dead. His death is being treated as unexpected but not believed to be suspicious,” according to the force.
The boy’s family has been told and are being supported by specialist officers.
The force originally said the child was 16 years old, but has since confirmed his age as 15.
In the earlier statement, officers said emergency services carried out a search and the park was evacuated.
Emergency teams were called to Beckenham Place Park on Friday afternoon
Beckenham Place Park, which borders the London borough of Bromley, covers around 240 acres, according to the park’s website.
The lake is described as 285 metres long, reaching depths of up to 3.5 metres.
It is designed as a swimming lake for open-water swimming and paddle boarding.
A London Ambulance Service spokesperson said on Friday: “We were called at 3.02pm this afternoon to reports of a person in the water.
“We sent resources to the scene, including an ambulance crew, an incident response officer and members of our hazardous area response team.”
Emergency teams have not explained how the boy entered the water, or whether he was accompanied by others.
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