, Labour’s Shadow Health and Social Care
Secretary, responding to the news that more than 7
million patients are on NHS waiting lists, the longest waiting
list in history, said:
“It is totally unacceptable for millions of people to be left
waiting months or even years for treatment, often for painful and
debilitating conditions.
“12 years of Conservative understaffing of the health service is
holding our economy back, with patients unable to work while they
wait. You can’t have a healthy economy without a healthy society.
“The next Labour government will oversee the biggest expansion of
the NHS workforce in history, paid for by abolishing the non-dom
tax status. We will train the doctors and nurses our NHS needs to
get patients treated, healthy and back to work.”
Ends
Notes
- NHS waiting lists now stand at 7 million for the first time
in the history of the health service. 387,000 patients have been
waiting more than a year and 2,600 waiting more than 2 years.
https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/rtt-waiting-times/rtt-data-2022-23/
- The number of inactive people in the UK was 640,000 above
pre-pandemic levels in May-July 2022 compared to December
2019-February 2020. This was driven by an increase in people who
were inactive due to a long-term illness: this increase was
352,000 which was more than half the total increase.
https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/bulletins/employmentintheuk/latest
- In their August 2022 Monetary Policy Report, the Bank of
England looked at the factors driving tightness in the labour
market. They reported that covid, and the associated delays in
other conditions, have played a significant role in the increase
in inactivity due to long-term sickness.
https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/-/media/boe/files/monetary-policy-report/2022/august/monetary-policy-report-august-2022.pdf
