The waiting list for routine hospital treatment in England has risen for the first time in seven months, new figures show. An estimated 7.57 million treatments were waiting to be carried out at the end of April, relating to 6.
33 million patients – up slightly from 7.54 million treatments and 6.29 million patients at the end of March, NHS England said.
The list hit a record high in September 2023 with 7.77 million treatments and 6.50 million patients.
It comes as prime minister Rishi Sunak said the NHS waiting list was coming down when questioned on Sky News during Wednesday’s election debate. Figures published by NHS England, some 5,013 patients in England had been waiting more than 18 months to start routine treatment at the end of April, up from 4,770 in March. The Government and NHS England set the ambition of eliminating all waits of more than 18 months by April 2023, excluding exceptionally complex cases or patients who choose to wait longer.
There were 50,397 patients who had been waiting more than 65 weeks to start treatment at the end of April, up from 48,968 in March. The target to eliminate all waits of over 65 weeks is now September 2024, having previously been March 2024. Meanwhile, a total of 302,589 people in England had been waiting more than 52 weeks to start routine hospital treatment at the end of April, down from 309,300 at the end of March.
The Government and NHS England have set the ambition of eliminating all waits of more than a year by March 2025. .
