The party made the pledge as it set out details of how it would start making inroads into the backlog. This includes getting the NHS to do more out-of-hours, and making greater use of the private sector. Currently the waiting list stands at 7.
5 million treatments. Treatment is defined as an operation - if a patient requires that - or starting a drug treatment or any other kind of care. Patients can have scans and checkups before treatment starts and either be taken off of the waiting list - for example if they require physio or remain on the list for further care.
Figures are down from a peak of nearly 7.8 million in September and is still 3 million more than before the pandemic. Since the end of March some 43% have waited longer than 18 weeks.
The NHS target, which calls for 92% of patients to start their treatment within 18 weeks, was last hit in February 2016. Cutting NHS waiting lists is also a government goal - it was one of five priorities . "If the Conservatives get another five years in power there is a genuine risk, based on Rishi Sunak's performance to date, that we'll see NHS waiting lists rise as high as 10 million," the shadow health secretary told BBC Breakfast on Wednesday.
Labour's Wes Streeting said his party's pledge to make use of "spare capacity" in the independent healthcare sector would remain "free at the point of use". "Huge numbers" of people were opting to go private where they could afford it, he said, adding: "I'm not going to see working class peo.
