Record low for operation waiting list
The government has welcomed news that the number of people waiting for an NHS operation in July was the lowest figure for 17 years.
Around 800,000 people were on the NHS waiting list in England last month, representing the lowest number since the current data system was introduced in 1988.
A Department of Health (DoH) spokesman said the figures were “evidence of real progress”, while acknowledging there was still “more to do”.
But the Liberal Democrat health spokesman Steve Webb said the figures did not show the whole story, with many on “hidden waiting lists”.
The figures show a decrease in the number on the operation waiting list of 344,000 since March 1997.
And only 15 patients were waiting longer than nine months for their operation.
“This is more evidence of real progress. The NHS is working hard to make sure patients have the fastest possible access to treatment,” the DoH spokesman said.
“The average wait is currently eight weeks and by the end of the year the longest anyone will wait for an operation will be six months,” he continued.
But the spokesman acknowledged there was more work to be done.
“That is why for the first time in the history of the NHS, we are tackling the hidden waits,” he said, which was being done through investment in diagnostic capacity and increased patient choice.
Mr Webb said there was an “awfully long way to go” before waiting times were at “acceptable levels”.
He added: “Thousands of patients are stuck on hidden waiting lists hanging on for months, or even years, before they get a diagnosis and get on the official list.”
The government has pledged that by December no patient in England will wait longer than half a year for surgery.
