Knee and hip replacement waiting times to DOUBLE under cuts, leaked document reveals
HIP and knee replacement patients will be forced to wait months in agonising pain after health service cuts see delays double.
Corbyn attacks Tories over NHS during campaign trail in Bedford
Leaked documents reveal the number of NHS patients waiting longer than 18 weeks for surgery is forecast to soar over the next two years.
Figures from health service regulators show waiting list numbers for hip and knee surgeries are expected to rise to 800,000 by 2019, compared with a current figure of 370,000.
Hernia, cataract and non-urgent brain and heart procedures will also be affected.
The delays would leave 5.5 million patients facing longer waiting lists, up from 3.7 million.
The delays would leave 5.5 million patients facing longer waiting lists
NHS patients will be waiting longer than 18 weeks for surgery
92 per cent of patents should get hospital treatment within 18 weeks
The Royal College of Surgeons said the growing waiting times were “unacceptably high” and would leave patients at risk of death and disability.
Ian Eardley, vice president, said: “NHS Improvement’s waiting times estimated paint a devastating picture for patients and hammer home just how damaging de-prioritising the 18-week target for planned surgery will potentially be.
"Without further help from the next Government after the election, this is what the real impact will be on patients of successive under-funding of the NHS.”
Cataract and non-urgent brain and heart procedures will also be affected
NHS Improvement’s waiting times estimated paint a devastating picture for patients and hammer home just how damaging de-prioritising the 18-week target for planned surgery will potentially be.
Major brain and heart operations were among those likely to be affected by worsening performance, he added.
At least 92 per cent of patents should get hospital treatment within 18 weeks.
But, by the end of last year, only 89.7 per cent were seen in that time frame.
And internal graphs produced by NHS Improvement show performance is expected to drop as low as 85 per cent if nothing is done to improve elective surgery.
A spokesman for NHS England added: “NHS Improvement describe this alternative as the ‘do nothing scenario’, but as their slides rightly point out, in fact the NHS will be doing a lot, hence waits will not move in the way that scenario sketches out.”
The news comes after Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn pledged to end hospital closures and cuts to A&E department and maternity units.
While Tory Chancellor Philip Hammond warned a £45 billion black hole in Labour's financial plans will detonate a tax and debt "bombshell" if the left-wing party takes power.