Number of people waiting more than a year for NHS treatment almost 200 times higher than pre-pandemic

The number of people waiting more than a year for hospital treatment is 186 times higher than it was before the pandemic began.

At the end of February, 300,000 people in England had been waiting for more than a year since being referred by a consultant. Two years ago, in February 2020, that figure was below 2,000.

Looking at that chart of the last ten years, it’s almost impossible to see the line from before the pandemic began.

Despite a slight reduction in recent months, today’s figure is still 50 times higher than in February 2012, the highest previous point from the past ten years. It had not been above 2,000 for 12 months prior to the pandemic.

Almost 24,000 people have now been waiting more than two years, a new record, and figures obtained by the Press Association show that 62 people have been waiting over three years.

Continue to scroll below to see how the effect of cancelled and delayed treatments at the start of the pandemic is still affecting the NHS and its patients.

In the year before the pandemic, more than half of patients waited less than 3-months for treatment.

On average less than 1% of patients waited 9-months, as can be seen with the flat line on the right side of the chart.

In 2020, mass cancellation of operations due to COVID-19 led to a sharp rise in the number of people on the waiting list.

The bump on the chart shows patients continuing to wait month after month without treatment throughout the year.

Despite additional funding to tackle the backlog, the number of people waiting longer than a year has risen to record figures.

The sharp rise at the right end of the chart shows the growing number of patients waiting longer than a year for treatment.

The total waiting list is now 6.2 million people. That’s more than one in ten people in England and the list has been growing every month since May 2020. There are 2.3 million more people on the list now than there were then.

NHS Confederation Chief Executive Matthew Taylor told Sky News’s Kay Burley that COVID was still a key factor for many of the longest waits.

“Even though we’re not talking about COVID, and even though the government seem determined not to talk about what’s going on in the health service right now, things are very difficult for us because of the pressures of COVID, because of the amount of demand that has built up,” he said.

“So, we will do everything to clear that two-year group but don’t forget people keep adding to that.”

Although 1.26m people started their treatment in February, slightly more than in the previous few months, 80,000 more people than that were added to the list at the other end, so it continues to grow.

Where have people been waiting longest?

When it comes to the waiting list, it matters where you live. Almost one in five people waiting for treatment at Birmingham University Hospitals NHS Trust – one of the largest in the country – have been waiting for more than a year.

Leicester is also badly affected. A patient there is ten times more likely to have waited for a year than one in Northamptonshire, which borders it to the south.

Hugh Alderwick, Director of Policy at the Health Foundation, said: ”Today’s data highlights the extreme pressure on NHS patients and staff, with millions of people feeling the negative effects of a health system struggling under unbearable strain.

“These pressures are not evenly distributed, with some areas hit harder than others. Over 1 in 10 of the people waiting for routine hospital treatment in Birmingham have already waited over a year, compared to just 1 in 100 in South West London.”

He added that COVID’s impact on staff absences was a key reason for this, but that the NHS was already struggling before the pandemic.

“The health system has been hampered by a decade of underinvestment in health and social care and chronic staff shortages. The NHS now faces staffing gaps of around 110,000.”

What are people waiting for?

Almost 60,000 people have been waiting for orthopaedic surgery – treatment on muscles and bones like knees, backs and shoulders – for more than a year.

While treatments like heart surgery and cancer care are being prioritised, those 60,000 people, plus others waiting for different surgeries, are likely to be living in discomfort as they wait.

NHS England Medical Director, Professor Stephen Powis, said that the NHS was rolling out innovative approaches to respond to the longer waits. There are now same-day hip replacements and dedicated mobile hubs for operations on conditions like cataracts.

Record Accident and Emergency waiting times

But people being unable to get planned treatment on time has knock-on effects to the rest of the health service.

More than 1.4 million people went to major A&Es in March, the third highest monthly total on record.

Waiting times were at their worst level ever – more than two in five people had to wait more than four hours to be seen.

After being seen, 136,000 people had to wait more than four hours to be treated – also a record high. The number of people waiting more than 12 hours was above 20,000 for the first time – 70 times higher than it was in the equivalent month before the pandemic.

And people had to wait longer to get to A&E in the first place. The average wait for Category 1 ambulance calls, those classed as life-threatening, rose to its highest ever figure of nine mins and 35 seconds in March. That’s almost three minutes longer than it was in March last year.

The Data and Forensics team is a multi-skilled unit dedicated to providing transparent journalism from Sky News. We gather, analyse and visualise data to tell data-driven stories. We combine traditional reporting skills with advanced analysis of satellite images, social media and other open source information. Through multimedia storytelling we aim to better explain the world while also showing how our journalism is done.

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