Staggering 350,000 patients to wait a year for surgery with £5.4bn cost to clear backlog

EXCLUSIVE: It’s predicted there will be a return to the long waiting lists of nearly 30 years ago, with patients in agony or facing early death from operable conditions

At least 350,000 patients face waiting a year or more for NHS treatment, a leading analyst warned yesterday.

And the cost of clearing the backlog could rise to £5.4billion, a healthcare charity said as calls grew for ministers to draft in the private sector.

Other grim predictions include…

A RETURN to the long waiting lists of nearly 30 years ago, with patients in agony or facing early death from operable conditions.

A SIX-YEAR slog by medics to get lists back to pre-pandemic levels.

An EXTRA consultants and 10,000 nurses needed to make any meaningful inroads into the list.

Expert Rob Findlay said thousands of people already on the NHS waiting list for 44 weeks or more will not be treated by March.

That is because routine operations and treatments have been pushed back even longer due to the second wave of coronavirus. 

Rob, who has produced forecasting software for nearly 20 NHS Trusts, said: “The NHS could go back to the 1990s when patients were waiting many years for treatment.”

He said the 168,000 patients on the NHS who have waited for a year will more than double by March, as they are joined by another 182,000 who have waited 44 weeks or more.

The crisis led to calls from the Royal College of Surgeons for the Government to bring in the private sector.

The college’s president, Professor Neil Mortensen, said: “It is absolutely crucial that an agreement between the independent sector and the NHS is reached as a matter of urgency.”

One of Britain’s top anaesthetists also warned waiting lists for routine surgery are out of control.

Dr Helgi Johannsson, Royal College of Anaesthetists council member, said: “The whole system is cracking. Across London, cancer operations are being cancelled on a regular basis.

“These are life-saving operations and while most of them can probably wait safely, cancer is a progressive disease.

“We’ve got to the stage where waiting lists for routine surgery are just out of control. When the second wave is over, this is the next mountain we need to climb.”

And Nigel Edwards, chief executive of The Nuffield Trust think-tank, warned: “Even if the virus retreats, staff are exhausted and there were shortages to start with.

“That means a big cheque from the Treasury won’t solve this immediately, although it may well be necessary.”

Experts at the Heath Foundation charity reckon it will cost the NHS £900million over six years to get back to pre-pandemic waiting levels.

They say the NHS will have to perform an extra 760,000 procedures a year for six years, with an additional 2,300 consultants and 10,000 nurses.

Last November Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced an extra £3bn for the NHS. 

But Danny Mortimer, chief executive of the NHS Confederation which represents healthcare leaders, said: “It is not enough.

“The cancellation of operations is not just an issue in London but one being played out in more and more places across England.

Dr Rob Harwood, of the British Medical Association, said the UK went into the pandemic with too few staff and beds and inadequate funding.

The British Heart Foundation fears the long waits could lead to more death.

Its associate medical director Dr Sonya Babu-Narayan said: “The longer people wait the greater the risk that they could become more unwell or die before they receive the care they need.”

Kruti Shrotri, Cancer Research UK’s head of policy, added: “During the first wave, the independent sector enabled some cancer surgery to continue so it’s vital this option remains.”

Last night the Department of Health and Social Care said: “We are supporting our NHS in the fight against coronavirus, investing £52 billion this year and £20 billion next year.

“This support is even more vital during the winter months and we have committed £450 million to expand waiting areas in A&Es and create more treatment cubicles.

“This is in addition to £3 billion to maintain independent sector support and Nightingale hospital surge capacity over winter.”

Amanda Pritchard, NHS chief ­operating officer, said the health service has a new national contract to “buy a range of services” for NHS patients from “independent providers” to ­reduce waiting times.

Source: Mirror By Grace Macaskill

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