Even without the impact of Covid, the NHS in England would have expected to see a waiting list of around 5.3m people at the end of May 2022, health experts said
It comes as vacancies across the NHS in England have reached a staggering new high with almost 10 per cent of posts empty. Latest quarterly figures show 132,139 roles were vacant at end of June, including more than 46,000 nurse posts., uses historical data to identify changes in key NHS performance trends before and after the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
In May 2022, the number of patients on the diagnostic waiting list reached over 1.5 million. But had pre-pandemic trends continued, we would still have seen a potential waiting list of 1.2 million. The number of patients waiting over 13 weeks for a diagnostic test has seen aroundDuring the pandemic, the number of patients waiting four hours to be admitted to hospitals from A&E units after a decision has been made to admit them, known as trolley waits, increased rapidly.
Nuffield Trust Fellow Jessica Morris said: “There is no denying the seismic upheaval that Covid-19 has had on health and care services, but the pandemic itself cannot be seen as the sole cause of the alarming waits for care. Even before the pandemic, waiting times were increasing.