Thread by @lewis_goodall

NEW: Latest figures from the NHS in England show nearly 4.7 million people were waiting for routine operations and procedures in February. The highest level for 14 years.

388,000 people were waiting more than a year for non-urgent surgery compared to 1600 pre-pandemic.

At the end of Feb, 64.5% of patients waiting to start treatment waited for less than 18 weeks. Way below target of 92%.

And though the pandemic has a big role to play, the 92% 18 week target had been slipping for some years- it hadn’t meet met since 15/16. We went into the crisis in a relatively poor place.

Add to this- waiting lists for non-emergency procedures were already at 4 million pre-pandemic and had been steadily rising over the decade, from around 2.5 million in 2012.

Likewise median waiting times had increased from 5.2 weeks in March 2010 to 8.9 weeks in March 2020.

When I spent time at Northwick Park at the start of the year, one of the consultants told me she thought NHS would spend years clearing up the backlog caused by Covid, not least because we went in with long wait times. Suspect she'll be vindicated.

https://twitter.com/lewis_goodall/status/1350537660306251777?s=20

At the moment we don't have a long term strategy from Dept of Health as to how this is backlog is going to be addressed, nor a financial settlement from Treasury for extra spending that will be required. Arguably this is the biggest medium term challenge for the service.

NB for those who are saying "see, lockdowns!"- as I said in Jan, this isn't a result of lockdown- it's a result of the virus getting out of control and the service being overwhelmed (which it was, esp this winter); and , as I say, NHS already being v stretched pre-pandemic.

On top of all this, NHS staff are now exhausted- with the task a long term behemoth of a task before them.

If you’ve been affected by the waiting lists keen to hear your experiences- DMs open. Likewise from NHS staff.

.@TheKingsFund responds. Says the figures are “bleak.”