NHS England waiting list falls with 6.44m on hold for routine treatment
The number of people in England waiting to start routine hospital treatment has fallen slightly, figures show.
An estimated 6.44 million were waiting to start treatment in October, down from 6.5 million in September.
In terms of actual appointments – which include individuals who are waiting for more than one treatment – the waiting list decreased.
An estimated 7.71 million treatments were waiting to be carried out at the end of October, down from a record 7.77 million treatments at the end of September, according to NHS England.
However, the figure remains 3 million higher than it was before the COVID pandemic, and more than triple the 2.55 million in October 2010.
The number of people waiting more than 52 weeks to start routine hospital treatment at the end of October was also down.
A total of 377,618 people in England had been waiting more than 52 weeks to start routine hospital treatment at the end of October, down from 391,122 at the end of September.
However, the number of people who have been waiting more than 18 months to start routine hospital treatment is up – to 10,506.
This is an increase of 3% compared to the 10,201 figure recorded in September.
The Government and NHS England set the ambition of eliminating all waits of more than 18 months by April this year, excluding exceptionally complex cases or patients who choose to wait longer.
NHS national medical director, Professor Sir Stephen Powis, said: “We know NHS staff have continued to pull out all the stops to deliver for patients and work towards the aims in our recovery plans while contending with ongoing pressure, and it is great to see clearly that hard work reflected in today’s figures.
“With the overall waiting list for elective care coming down, ambulance response times faster than both last month and the same time last year, as well as hundreds of new staff joining the emergency care workforce ahead of winter, this progress is excellent.”
However, he said that the NHS still faced a “challenging winter on a number of fronts”.
He added: “Our staff will once more be prioritising urgent and emergency care to protect patient safety and ensure those in life-saving emergencies can receive the best possible care, and the public can continue to play their part by using NHS services in the usual way – calling 999 in an emergency and using NHS 111 for other health conditions, and by getting their flu and Covid jabs if eligible.”
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