Jonathan Ashworth comments on NHS waiting list hitting five million

Jonathan Ashworth MP, Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary, commenting on the news that the NHS waiting list has hit five million, said:

“This week the five million patients waiting for treatment needed a Queen's Speech that delivered an NHS rescue plan to provide timely treatment for those waiting for health care.

“These shocking levels of unmet care needs risk serious illness and permanent disability for thousands of people.

“This is a devastating verdict on 11 years of underfunding, cuts, understaffing and neglect of social care that left both health and care services weakened and exposed when the pandemic hit. We entered the crisis with sky high waiting lists, cancer targets missed and young people denied mental health support. It’s time for a reset on the NHS to deliver the care patients deserve.”

Ends

Notes to editors:

• The number of patients waiting to start treatment at the end of March 2021 was 5.0 million patients. This is an increase of 0.3 million on the previous month.
• Of those, 436,127 patients were waiting more than a year to start treatment.

https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/05/Mar21-RTT-SPN-publication-version-1.pdf