Around 121,000 people died last year whilst waiting for care on
the NHS, as patients face record waiting times. Freedom of
information requests have revealed that record numbers of people
are passing away having never received the treatment they were
waiting for.
Latest data shows that double the number of people died on
waiting lists last year compared with 2017/18, when the figure
stood at around 60,000. The figures are also higher than in
2021, when the country was still in the midst of the Covid
pandemic.
At the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust alone, more than
3,500 people died waiting for treatment last year. University
Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust saw nearly 3,000
people die whilst on waiting lists; 1,600 of these patients had
been waiting for longer than 18 weeks.
The NHS constitution states that patients should not wait more
than 18 weeks for treatment, but two in five patients today wait
longer than that to receive healthcare. The FOI revealed that
40,000 people died last year after waiting for more than 18 weeks
for NHS care.
The public now face the longest waiting lists in NHS history,
with a record 7.6 million people waiting for treatment. promised to cut NHS waiting
lists, but there are 600,000 more patients waiting for NHS care
today than when he became Prime Minister.
, Shadow Health Secretary, said:
“Record numbers of people are spending their final months in pain
and agony, waiting for treatment that never arrives.
“The basic promise of the NHS - that it will be there
for us when we need it – has been broken. The longer the
Conservatives are in office, the longer
patients will wait.
“Only Labour can rescue the NHS from this crisis and restore it
to good health. We will train the staff needed to treat
patients on time again, and reform the service to make it fit for
the future.”
Ends
Notes
Results from a freedom of information request by the Labour Party
to every NHS trust in England which received 35 responses out of
138 acute trusts.
- The total number of deaths from those who responded
was 30,611 deaths, which when extrapolated out to all trusts
would be 120,695 deaths.
- In 2017/18 around 60,000 patients died while on NHS waiting
lists, and around 38,000 in 2012/13.
10,000 more patients die
each year on waiting lists | UK | News | Express.co.uk
- An FOI from the Labour Party found that 117,000 patients died
while on NHS waiting lists in 2021, while the country was still
going through the covid pandemic.
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/117-000-die-nhs-waiting-lists-covid-backlog-b1010262.html
