Hospital waiting list in England highest since 2007

This article was taken from: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-44445303

By BBC News

The number of people waiting for a hospital operation in England is at its highest for more than a decade

An estimated 4.2m people are waiting to be seen – the highest since 2007.

April’s figures also showed growing numbers waiting more than 18 weeks, the treatment target time, including people due to have cataract or back surgery and knee and hip replacements.

The rising numbers come after the health service was forced to postpone thousands of operations in the winter.

That action was taken to relieve the pressure on A&E departments.

It means the number of patients now waiting longer than they should has topped 500,000 for the first time since 2008, although some trusts have had problems reporting data in previous months which has kept the figures lower than they were in reality.

An estimated 4.2m people are waiting to be seen – the highest since 2007.

April’s figures also showed growing numbers waiting more than 18 weeks, the treatment target time, including people due to have cataract or back surgery and knee and hip replacements.

The rising numbers come after the health service was forced to postpone thousands of operations in the winter.

That action was taken to relieve the pressure on A&E departments.

It means the number of patients now waiting longer than they should has topped 500,000 for the first time since 2008, although some trusts have had problems reporting data in previous months which has kept the figures lower than they were in reality.