Latest NHS performance figures show more than 200,000 people waiting over a year for treatment

Latest NHS performance figures show more than 200,000 people waiting over a year for treatment

Media statement

For immediate release: Thursday 11 February 2021

Responding to the latest NHS England performance figures, Dr Layla McCay, director of policy at the NHS Confederation, said:
 
“While the NHS has continued to prioritise urgent care and patients with the greatest clinical need, the disruption that coronavirus has brought to many frontline services has been immense and will take a long time to recover from. The latest figures are stark –  4.52 million people were waiting to start treatment at the end of December 2020, the highest number since records began in August 2007. There were also well over 200,000 patients waiting more than 52 weeks compared to just 1,467 in December 2019.

“The size of this treatment backlog is of great concern to health leaders, who will need support and dedicated investment to get through it, alongside the Government to be up front with the public about what the NHS can safely deliver in this next phase of the pandemic.
 
“The figures tell us that December 2020 was a challenging month for the health service as it saw patients with coronavirus across English hospitals increase by nearly 10,000 and those requiring mechanical ventilation increase by 700, while about 53,000 NHS staff were off work for reasons related to the virus in January.
 
“But it was also a time when all parts of the NHS came together to lead the way and roll out the mass vaccination programme, which has how administered over 13 million jabs in just over two months, as well as a year-on-year increase in the percentage of people seen by a specialist within two weeks of an urgent cancer referral.

“Health and care workers have worked tirelessly in the face of this global threat for over a year now and although it is encouraging that cases of coronavirus are beginning to come down in England, it is from a very high point. They will need a period of recuperation to alleviate the extreme and sustained pressures they have been under, as well as a cautious relaxation of the lockdown restrictions at the appropriate point.”