Nearly 200,000 patients now waiting at least twelve months for routine NHS operations

Recent figures have shown that the NHS being overwhelmed by the coronavirus crisis has caused waiting lists for routine treatment to surge to the highest levels recorded.

Over 4.5 million people are currently on the NHS waiting list, while nearly 200,000 have been left waiting for over a year for treatment, a figure which stood at just 1,163 less than a year ago.

As hospitals are having to free up intensive care beds for Covid patients, hundreds of cancer operations have been cancelled throughout London with thousands more waiting for longer than the NHS target of 62 days for urgent treatment. It has also been revealed that life-saving organ transplants had also been cancelled across the country due to the pressure on intensive care beds.

President of the Royal College of Surgeons, Professor Neil Mortensen, said “Today’s figures show the calamitous impact of Covid-19 on wait times for operations.

“A huge hidden waiting list is building under lockdown. When we eventually emerge from this crisis, we will need sustained investment to treat all those who have been waiting patiently for treatment.”

Medical director of NHS England, Professor Stephen Powis said “Despite 2020 being the year of Covid, nearly 29 million people received emergency care in England’s A&Es, while in November alone as Covid-19 was spreading more rapidly, patients still benefited from four million important elective treatments and essential checks on the NHS.

“These figures are a stark reminder that the NHS is facing an exceptionally tough challenge, and that while still millions of people are getting care for non-covid health problems in the NHS in England – indeed for every Covid patient in hospital, the NHS is treating three people for other conditions – there is no doubt that services will continue to be under additional pressure until and unless this virus is under control, which is why it’s so important that everyone practices social distancing and follows national guidance.”

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Posted by Tony May, Partner/head of Clinical Negligence Department, Chadwick Lawrence LLP (tonymay@chadlaw.co.uk ), medical negligence lawyers and clinical negligence solicitors in Huddersfield, Leeds, Wakefield and Halifax, West Yorkshire.

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