HOSPITAL BACKLOG REACHES RECORD HIGH WITH 7 MILLION PATIENTS IN NEED OF TREATMENT, SAYS NHS ENGLAND

Thu 13 October 2022:

7 million people in England are currently waiting for routine hospital treatment, a new high, according to the National Health Service England.

The numbers as of the end of August indicate a 3% increase from the 6.8 million total as of the end of this year’s July.

The country is currently dealing with a backlog at hospitals brought on by prolonged lockdowns that delayed many hospital treatments in 2020 and 2021.

Therese Coffey, the health secretary, recently stated that removing thousands of patients “who don’t need clinically to be in hospital” from hospital beds will reduce the backlog in the NHS.

She said her priorities for improving the NHS will be based on her “ABCD” plan, unpacking the acronym as “ambulances, backlog, care, doctors and dentists,” but gave no further details of the plan.

The ambulance waiting times in the country is also sliding from an 18-minute waiting time as heart attack and stroke patients now wait an average of an hour for an ambulance, according to reports.

The typical wait time for emergency care has fluctuated across England.

This September, 32,776 people in England’s A&E departments spent more than 12 hours in line.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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