NHS waiting lists down
New figures from the Department of Health suggest that waiting lists and times for English patients were significantly lower in June.
The results for the end of June show that only 80 patients were waiting more than nine months for treatment, 50,000 lower than in June 2003.
The waiting time is calculated from the date that a hospital clinician decides to admit a patient, not from the time that a patient first presents themself to their GP.
The statistical release attributes blame for a number of those waiting more than nine months to a breach of waiting time targets at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital. Its waiting list management is currently under investigation by the Department for Health, which has issued assurances that all patients waiting there longer than nine months will be treated by the end of August.
The total number of patients waiting for admission in England at the end of June was 885,400, just under a percentage point down from May, but down over ten per cent since June 2003.
The statistics though come with heavy caveats attached, as they do not include patients admitted as emergency cases, out patients, patients undergoing a planned programme of treatment e.g. a series of admissions for chemotherapy or patients waiting to be treated in private hospitals, even if these treatments are to be funded by the NHS.
