Patients waiting for routine hospital treatment in England hits record high

Published

2 years ago

October 13, 2022

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The number of people waiting to start routine hospital treatment in England has reached a record high.

In all, seven million patients were waiting to start treatment at the end of August, NHS England said.

This is up from 6.8 million in July and is the highest number since records began in August 2007.

It was also revealed total of 387,257 people in England had been waiting more than a year to start hospital treatment at the end of August, up from 377,689 at the end of July.

This is means one out of every 18 people on the waiting list is waiting over 12 months to begin treatment.

Figures also showed that 2,646 people had been waiting over two years to begin routine hospital treatment at the end of August, slightly down from 2,885 the previous month and markedly down from a peak of 23,778 in January this year.

NHS England had said its target was for no patients waiting longer than two years for treatment, except in instances of complex cases or when the patient themselves chooses to delay.

Ambulance waiting times were also revealed, with the wait for calls from people with life-threatening illnesses or injuries averaging nine minutes 19 seconds. The target for these types of incidents is seven minutes.

The average wait for ambulances to arrive in instances of non-life-threatening injuries was 47 minutes 59 seconds in September, over half an hour longer than the target time of 17 minutes.

The number of people waiting longer than 12 hours in A&E for a bed after being seen by a doctor also reached a new record high of 32,776 in September, up by more than 4,000 on the previous month.

This figure is higher than the total recorded in the 124 months from August 2010 (since records began) to November 2020.

A total of 71% of patients in England were seen within the target four hours at A&E departments across England last month, level with the worst performance ever recorded.

The national target is for 95% of patients to be dealt with in under four hours, a target which has not been met since 2015.

A record number of 255,055 urgent cancer referrals were made by GPs in August – however only 75.6% saw a specialist within the two week target time, the second worst performance on record.

Monthly figures also showed there was more NHS activity than before the pandemic with 4% more patients receiving treatment in August compared to the same month in 2019, and more than two million tests and checks carried out.

The number of patients in hospital with COVID has also more than doubled since September to over 10,000.

Labour’s Shadow Health and Social Care Secretary, Wes Streeting, branded the news that NHS waiting lists were now the longest in history “totally unacceptable”.

He said: “Twelve years of Conservative understaffing of the health service is holding our economy back, with patients unable to work while they wait. You can’t have a healthy economy without a healthy society.”

“The next Labour government will oversee the biggest expansion of the NHS workforce in history, paid for by abolishing the non-dom tax status. We will train the doctors and nurses our NHS needs to get patients treated, healthy and back to work.”

NHS national medical director Professor Sir Stephen Powis said: “Despite huge pressures on the NHS this summer, the incredible work of colleagues across the country meant that in August we delivered more potentially life-saving cancer checks than ever before and cut 18-month waits by 60% over the last year.

“This was despite continued pressure from Covid patients in hospital, which has now risen to more than double the numbers seen in August, and more of the most serious ambulance callouts than before the pandemic.”

To register your interest and share your story, please email TheGreatDebate@sky.uk

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Canterbury MP Rosie Duffield quits Labour – criticising Sir Keir Starmer in resignation letter

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2 hours ago

September 28, 2024

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Canterbury MP Rosie Duffield quits Labour - criticising Sir Keir Starmer in resignation letter

Canterbury MP Rosie Duffield has resigned from the Labour Party.

The 53-year-old MP is the first to jump ship since the general election and in her resignation letter criticised the prime minister for accepting thousands of pounds worth of gifts.

She told Sir Keir Starmer the reason for leaving now is “the programme of policies you seem determined to stick to”, despite their unpopularity with the electorate and MPs.

In her letter she accused the prime minister and his top team of “sleaze, nepotism and apparent avarice” which are “off the scale”.

“I’m so ashamed of what you and your inner circle have done to tarnish and humiliate our once proud party,” she said.

Sir Keir has faced backlash after a Sky News report revealed he had received substantially more freebies than any other MP since becoming Labour leader.

Since December 2019, the prime minister received £107,145 in gifts, benefits, and hospitality – a specific category in parliament’s register of MPs’ interests.

Ms Duffield, who has previously clashed with the prime minister on gender issues, attacked the government for pursuing “cruel and unnecessary” policies as she resigned the Labour whip.

She criticised the decision to keep the two-child benefit cap and means-test the winter fuel payment, and accused the prime minister of “hypocrisy” over his acceptance of free gifts from donors.

“Since the change of government in July, the revelations of hypocrisy have been staggering and increasingly outrageous,” she said.

“I cannot put into words how angry I and my colleagues are at your total lack of understanding about how you have made us all appear.”

Ms Duffield also mentioned the recent “treatment of Diane Abbott”, who said she thought she had been barred from standing by Labour ahead of the general election, before Sir Keir said she would be allowed to defend her Hackney North and Stoke Newington seat for the party.

Her relationship with the Labour leadership has long been strained and her decision to quit the party comes after seven other Labour MPs were suspended for rebelling by voting for a motion calling for the two-child benefit cap to be abolished.

“Someone with far-above-average wealth choosing to keep the Conservatives’ two-child limit to benefit payments which entrenches children in poverty, while inexplicably accepting expensive personal gifts of designer suits and glasses costing more than most of those people can grasp – this is entirely undeserving of holding the title of Labour prime minister,” she said.

Ms Duffield said she will continue to represent her constituents as an independent MP, “guided by my core Labour values”.

UK

King Charles hails ‘uniquely special’ Scotland as it marks Holyrood milestone – before being hugged by woman

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2 hours ago

September 28, 2024

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King Charles hails 'uniquely special' Scotland as it marks Holyrood milestone - before being hugged by woman

The King has paid tribute to Scotland as a “uniquely special place” for the Royal Family as he marked the 25th anniversary of the Scottish parliament.

At the ceremony to commemorate a quarter of a century since parliament opened at Holyrood, the King said: “Speaking from a personal perspective, Scotland has always had a uniquely special place in the hearts of my family and myself.

“My beloved grandmother was proudly Scottish, my late mother especially treasured the time spent at Balmoral, and it was there in the most beloved of places, where she chose to spend her final days.”

He said we are all “united by our love of Scotland”, paying tribute to its “natural beauty”, “strength of character”, “diversity of its people”, “passions and frequently deeply held beliefs”.

“From the central belt to the north Highlands, across the islands in Ayrshire, in the Borders, the cities, towns and villages, all the coastal communities, who I wonder, could not fail to be moved by this complex Caledonian kaleidoscope?,” he asked as presiding officer Alison Johnstone and the Queen sat beside him.

After he gave the speech, the King was hugged by a member of the public – who said she did so “because of him being unwell”.

The 75-year-old was diagnosed with cancer in February but has since returned to public duties.

Yvonne Macmillan, 59, from East Renfrewshire, attended the anniversary ceremony with her husband Russell who is registered blind and chosen as a “local hero” for work in their area.

“I asked him if he was feeling better and if I could give him a hug. I actually said to him: ‘Can I hug you?’,” she said.

“As I hugged him I said, ‘God bless you’, so it was like God giving him a hug.”

While Sir Tony Blair’s Labour government legislated for Scottish devolution in 1997 – parliament officially opened at Holyrood on 1 July 1999.

The King has made six visits to the parliament since 1999 – while his mother Queen Elizabeth II made 10 visits during her lifetime.

Scottish First Minister John Swinney is one of a number of MSPs who have been at Holyrood since the start of devolution.

He said in his own speech in Edinburgh on Saturday that the parliament has “placed itself at the very heart of the nation”, describing it as a “vessel of enlightenment, invention and creativity”.

The SNP’s Christine Grahame is another MSP who has been there since the start.

“Free tuition, free prescriptions, game-changing policies to tackle child poverty, the ban on smoking, the baby box, ScotRail back in public ownership – none of this would have been possible without the Scottish parliament and the strength of our commitment to self-determination,” she said on Saturday.

The King said the devolved parliament has the ability to “touch and to improve the lives of so many individuals”.

But he added that “there remains much more to be done” for Scotland, the rest of the UK, particularly with regards to climate change.

“Let this moment therefore be the beginning of the next chapter,” he told those assembled.

“The achievement of the past and the commitment shown in the present give us the soundest basis for confidence in the future.”

UK

Phone thief caught red-handed hours after snatching device from woman’s hand in Croydon

Published

2 hours ago

September 28, 2024

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Phone thief caught red-handed hours after snatching device from woman's hand in Croydon

A moped riding phone thief was caught red-handed after police tracked the device down hours after he snatched it from a woman’s hand.

CCTV footage released by police showed a masked moped rider mount the pavement in Croydon, south London, to swipe a phone from a woman’s hand on 6 March, while another victim had theirs stolen while they waited for a bus an hour later.

Amari Scott, 20, looked surprised when confronted by officers inside a shop, where he was found with two mobile phones.

“We’ve just had a moped rob a mobile phone off the pavement and the phone is pinging in this location,” one of the officers told him in body-worn camera footage before Scott was handcuffed and led away.

Police also recovered a stolen motorbike and Scott, from Sutton, south London, was later jailed for four years.

Two teenagers who committed four robberies in the space of just half an hour were also arrested as part of a crackdown in Croydon.

Aged 16 and 17, the teens were issued with referral orders after pleading guilty to charges of robbery, attempted robbery and attempted grievous bodily harm.

They were behind a spree of eight robberies across Croydon and nearby Bromley, including four within 30 minutes on the morning of 5 August.

Their crimes, which included the knife point robbery of a rough sleeper outside Croydon library, were caught on CCTV.

One of the teenagers tried to discard a knife before she was arrested after a foot chase, telling officers: “The knife wasn’t mine”.

The other ran away, leaving a knife and his bag, but was lying in bed at home when he was arrested shortly after.

The Metropolitan Police said officers are intensifying efforts to tackle robbery and theft, encouraging victims to report incidents as they happen to increase the chances of catching the criminals.

Chief Inspector James Weston said: “We understand the impact that robbery has on victims – it is invasive and frightening.

“That’s why our teams are working so hard to deter and catch offenders to reassure our local community.

“Thanks to the hard work of officers, our partners and community grassroots organisations, we are stepping up our efforts and tackling the issues that matter most to the people of Croydon.”