1.4 million people’s work suffering due to NHS backlog

1.4 million people currently waiting for NHS treatment are seeing their work affected by it, new figures have revealed.

Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey said the figures showed Rishi Sunak is breaking two of his key pledges, to grow the economy and bring down NHS waiting lists. He warned this record of failure meant millions were being “left in limbo,” with many unable to return to work while they wait for treatment. The Liberal Democrats will today set out a plan to bring down NHS wait times, get people back into work more quickly and boost the economic recovery. 

The Office for National Statistics survey found that more than one in five adults report they are waiting for a hospital appointment, test, or to start receiving medical treatment through the NHS. Of these, 19% said waiting for NHS treatment had affected their work, equivalent to over 1.4 million people across the country. The survey suggests 350,000 people have reduced their hours and 140,000 have gone on long-term sick leave in the past month as a result of waiting for NHS treatment.

The latest figures showed that a record 7.22 million people were waiting to start routine hospital treatment at the end of February, despite Rishi Sunak’s flagship pledge to bring down NHS waiting lists.

Separate figures from the IPPR have suggested that clearing waiting lists more quickly could add an extra £18 billion to the economy over the next five years, through people returning to work or increasing the number of hours worked.

The Liberal Democrat proposals to bring down waiting lists would include a “traffic control” system, giving patients the option to travel for surgery to areas with shorter wait times if they are able to. NHS workers would be offered extra pay at weekends and for out of hours care, funded by the government, allowing more treatments to be scheduled.

The Liberal Democrats are also calling for an advice centre for those on NHS waiting lists, providing tailored advice to ensure everyone is ready for their scheduled surgery and prevent avoidable cancellations. As many as one in five surgery cancellations are caused by patient-related reasons such as not being medically fit for a scheduled operation, not having fasted, or taking medications that should have been stopped.

This would include giving people a guaranteed appointment with a GP within a week and introducing a higher minimum wage for care workers to fill the vacancies in social care, helping to reduce the burden on overstretched hospitals.

20% of adults waiting for treatment reported having had a medical appointment cancelled or delayed in the past month, equivalent to more than two million people. 61% reported that it had negatively affected their well-being while 41% said it has impacted their ability to exercise. The survey also suggests that more than three million people paid for private medical treatment in the past month because they felt the NHS wait was too long.

Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey said:

“Rishi Sunak is breaking two of his key pledges, to grow the economy and bring down NHS waiting lists. You can’t do one without the other.

“Millions of people are being left in limbo on NHS waiting lists under this Conservative government. Ministers have let the NHS crisis spiral out of control, failed to deliver the new hospitals they promised and failed to tackle chronic staff shortages.

“This record of failure is damaging people’s lives and hampering our economic recovery, as people are left waiting months or even years for treatment.

“We need a rescue plan for the NHS and our economy, to get people off waiting lists and allow them to return to work. If patients could see their GP when they need to or get the care they need at home, it would free up hospital resources to treat people far more quickly.”

ENDS

Notes to Editor:

The ONS survey is available here. Full data tables are available here.

A recent review found around one in five elective surgery cancellations were caused by patient-related reasons such as not being medically fit for a scheduled operation, not attending, not having fasted, or taking medications that should have been stopped (IPPR, April 2023).  

The IPPR has found that a 30 per cent increase in elective activity from 2019 levels by 2025 would deliver an estimated increase in production of £73 billion over five years. Of this, £18 billion would be paid production from people returning to work or increasing their hours worked, directly contributing to GDP (IPPR, April 2023).  

Liberal Democrat plan to bring down NHS waiting lists:

1. Right to see a GP within 7 days: A new right to see your GP within 7 days, or within 24 hours if you urgently need to. By guaranteeing a GP appointment when people need it, we will reduce the pressure on hospitals, saving crucial time and money elsewhere in the NHS.

2. Fix social care: We would introduce free personal care and attract more people into the social care workforce by introducing a Carer’s Minimum Wage. This would help  get people out of hospital as soon as they are well enough to leave, aiding their recovery and freeing up space in hospital for more patients to be treated.

3. End the postcode lottery of queue lengths: Most people are referred to a specific hospital, often near where they live. Pooling these different waiting lists for individual hospitals by region would give people the option of faster care if it is available somewhere nearby, or even further afield if the patient is willing to travel. It would give patients choice and flexibility.

4. Pre-operative patient advice centre: Planned surgery or tests are often cancelled or missed entirely for easily avoidable reasons, such as a patient not being properly prepared or medically fit for an operation. We would establish an advice centre that would offer personalised pre-operative advice the day before a patient’s test or treatment, to help enssure everyone is ready for their scheduled surgery.

5. Increased pay for weekend sessions: We would introduce surge pay for NHS staff, funded by central government, for weekend elective care. Most elective surgery is performed on weekdays but by encouraging and paying doctors and nurses extra for weekend work, and allowing them to focus solely on one type of procedure, waiting times can be reduced and surgery made more efficient. One NHS consultant described one trial of this approach “like a Formula 1 pit stop crew where you have people who are all well trained and work together to do something very efficiently and safely”. This should however not be seen as a substitute for a fair increase in pay, which striking NHS staff are currently fighting the Government for.