Despite record levels of disruption from industrial action and one of the busiest winters ever, the NHS in England has cut the amount of people waiting longer than 18 months for elective treatment by more than four-fifths since its peak.
As of the 19th of March, just over 20,000 patients were waiting 78 weeks for treatment – down massively from the almost 125,000-strong list in September 2021.
In the last month alone, the elective waits of more than 18 months have been slashed by almost half, with more than a quarter of acute trusts now housing fewer than 10 patients on their longest waiting lists.
The progress comes as we reach the precipice of the Elective Recovery Plan’s target of April to eliminate all 78-week waiters – something the NHS Confederation’s Acute Network Director, Rory Deighton, thinks could have been achieved if not for the “challenging winter, flu season, and the added distraction of industrial action.”
“The NHS has done an amazing job, focusing on long waiters, and delivering at a time of intense pressure for the whole of the NHS. A residual list of around 11,000 people still waiting for care represents massive progress against the target, and leaders will be proud of the efforts of their staff,” said Rory.
In view of the progress, and in a bid to ensure all outpatient appointments and admitted treatments for this cohort were completed before the end of this month, NHS England's Director of Elective Recovery, Sir James Mackey, and Director of Clinical Improvement, Professor Tim Briggs CBE, penned a letter to all NHS trusts back in early January.
The letter asked the organisations to make sure all the patients in the 78-week cohort without a decision to admit had an appointment booked before the end of January, as well as those with a decision to admit had their first definitive treatment scheduled before the end of March.
Responding to the recent news of the longest waiting lists being cut again, Sir James Mackey heralded the “joined-up working across the NHS” and the “colleagues pulling together” to ensure the longest waiters were seen.
The progress is also further highlighted when taking into account how many patients the NHS Confederation believed could potentially need treating by April.
A deep dive into the state of the 78-week waiting lists in late January noted how nearly 220,000 patients might need treatment when accounting for those who would have waited more than 18 months by the target date, as of last November.
To get to this stage, the health service say it has treated more than two million people who would otherwise have joined the 18-month waiting list since last February.
