Hospital Waiting List tops 5 Million in England

The number of people needing treatment on a hospital waiting list has topped five million for the first time in England.

Data from NHS England shows 5.12 million people waiting for hospital treatment at the end of April.

However, it is not all bad news. The number of people facing a wait for more than a year has gone down for the first time since the start of the pandemic. Recent figures show around 385,000 patients waiting for as long as that, which is a drop of 50,000 from the month before. There is still a long way to go though, as prior to the coronavirus pandemic, there were just 1,600 people in that position.

Difference in numbers in different areas

Meanwhile, analysis shows big differences in the numbers of people waiting for more than a year a year across varying areas. At the end of March, the highest number of people waiting over 12 months for treatment was in Castle Point and Rochford, in Essex, with 573 per 100,000. It was a different story in south-west London, where there were only 24 people.

The age of local populations also plays a part in the differences in numbers of people awaiting hospital treatment. Areas that tend to have the oldest population saw some of the highest rates of people needing hospital treatment. Meanwhile, places with the youngest populations had the lowest rates of people requiring care.

Lead researcher Jonathan Pearson-Stuttard says the findings are still “extremely worrying”. Longer waiting times for people with certain medical conditions often lead to poorer long term outcomes.

He thinks that urgent action needs targeting at areas with the highest need of people waiting. If it is not done soon, we risk creating a “generation of patients living in poorer health”.

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