Record 6,500,000 waiting for routine hospital surgery
Some 6.5 million were in the queue for elective operations such as hip and knee replacements and cataracts surgery in April (Picture: Getty)

The number of people waiting for routine hospital treatment in England has reached another record high, figures show.

Some 6.5 million were in the queue for elective operations such as hip and knee replacements and cataracts surgery in April – roughly up from 6.4million in March.

That represents one in nine people in the population, according to the BBC, while one in 20 have been waiting more than a year.

There were some signs of progress, with the number waiting more than two years for treatment almost halving from a peak of 23,778 in January to 12,735 in April.

That is still five times more than the number waiting two years at the end of April, which was just under 30,000.

Tim Mitchell, of the Royal College of Surgeons, said there was some ‘light at the end of the tunnel’.

‘Surgical teams have been working around the clock to reduce the enormous waiting list which built up during the pandemic,’ he said..

‘However, there are still big challenges ahead. As people return to the NHS, demand is only getting stronger.’

He added that more staff were needed to increase the amount of surgery that could be done, wit waiting lists expected to keep rising until 2024.

 The data showed cancer services were particularly struggling, with 21% of people waiting more than two weeks for a check-up with a cancer specialist in April after an urgent referral from a GP.

Meanwhile, 35% waited more than the target time of two months for treatment.

Prof Pat Price, co-founder of Catch Up With Cancer, said: ‘It defies all reason that government can look at these cancer statistics and not see a crisis. We are desperately short of treatment capacity.’

Prof Sir Stephen Powis, of NHS England, praised ‘hard-working NHS staff’, saying significant progress was being made.

But he warned there was ‘no doubt’ the health service is still facing pressures, including an increasing number of Covid patients.

The government aims to eliminate all waits of more than two years, except for by patient choice, by July of this year and cut out one-year plus waits by 2025.

GPs in England made 204,818 urgent cancer referrals in April – down from a record 253,796 in March but higher than the 80,031 in April 2020 during the pandemic and 199,217 in April 2019.

On average, ambulances failed to meet target times but responses improved.

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