The waiting list for routine hospital treatment in England has risen for the second month running, the latest figures show – as the new health secretary announced an inquiry into the state of the NHS.
It is estimated that at the end of May there were 7.6 million treatments waiting to be performed, relating to 6.38 million patients.
This represents a slight increase from 7.57 million treatments and 6.33 million patients at the end of April, National Health Service England said.
The list reached a record in September 2023, with 7.77 million treatments and 6.5 million patients, after which the numbers began to fall – before showing an increase in April and May this year.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting, who took up the role following Labour’s landslide general election victory earlier this month, said an investigation into the performance of the NHS would aim to “diagnose the problem” so the government can “diagnose the problem” write the recipe.”
He said it will be led by former Health Minister Lord Ara Darzi, whom he called on to “tell hard truths”.
“It is clear to anyone who works in or uses the NHS that it is broken,” said Streeting, writing for The Sun.
“Unlike the last government, we are not looking for excuses. I’m certainly not going to blame the NHS staff who ruin their patients.
“This government will be honest about the challenges we face and serious about solving them.”
Mr Streeting added: “Honesty is the best policy, and this report will give patients, staff and myself a full and frank assessment of the state of the NHS, warts and all.”
The latest NHS figures also showed that 4,597 patients in England waited more than 18 months to start routine treatment at the end of May – down from 5,013 in April.
The previous government and NHS England had set the ambition to eliminate all waits longer than 18 months by April 2023, excluding exceptionally complex cases or patients who choose to wait longer.
There were 55,955 patients who waited more than 65 weeks to start treatment at the end of May – up from 50,397 in April.
The target of eliminating all waits longer than 65 weeks has been changed to September 2024 – from March 2024.
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Meanwhile, the average response time in June for ambulances in England dealing with the most urgent incidents, defined as calls from people with life-threatening illnesses or injuries, was eight minutes and 21 seconds.
This represents a slight increase from May’s eight minutes and 16 seconds and is above the standard response time target of seven minutes.
However, the number of people who waited more than 12 hours in A&E departments in England from the decision to admit until they were actually admitted stood at 38,106 in June, down from 42,555 in May.
The latest data and the launch of an investigation comes as a new report from thinktank Nuffield Trust reveals that progress in tackling waiting lists has “stalled” and “long waits remain endemic in the NHS”.
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