NHS waiting lists have fallen for the first time in a year – but A&E delays are getting worse as winter viruses begin to bite.
Official figures show England’s wait list declined so that 6.44million people were waiting for 7.71m procedures in October.
PANHS waiting lists have fallen for the first time in a year – but A&E delays are getting worse as winter viruses begin to bite[/caption]
That compared to 6.5m waiting for 7.77m in September and marked the first reduction in the total since October 2022.
The drop offers hope for PM Rishi Sunak’s plan to cut the backlog but the figures remain higher than when he made the pledge in January.
Meanwhile NHS bosses warn the number of patients in hospital with flu has more than doubled in a fortnight, with norovirus and Covid cases also increasing.
Three in 10 A&E patients are waiting longer than four hours to be seen and delays to ambulances offloading new patients are getting longer.
Professor Sir Stephen Powis, medical director for NHS England, said: “NHS staff have pulled out all the stops but we still face a challenging winter.”
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said: “It’s hard to get the backlogs down when people are on strike.”
He called on junior doctors from the British Medical Association to “do the right thing” and call off the strikes they have planned for next week.
Jessica Morris, from the Nuffield Trust think-tank, said: “The slight fall in the number of people waiting for treatment is good news but it is hard to look past the huge waiting list that remains in place.
“It will take time and a lot of hard work to sustain this momentum, particularly during the difficult winter months.”