Covid-19: NHS waits at record high as second wave hits care

The Covid surge in January hit key services including cancer and routine surgery, NHS England figures show.

Less than half the expected number of operations were done, pushing the waiting list to a record-high of 4.6m.

More than 300,000 of those have been waiting more than a year for treatment - compared to 1,600 before the pandemic began.

Surgeons described it as a dire situation which would take a long time to turnaround.

Tim Mitchell, of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, said: "Behind today's statistics are people waiting in limbo.

"Many will be in considerable pain, others will have restricted mobility and be at risk of isolation and loneliness.

"Dealing with this daunting backlog will take time, and also sustained investment in the NHS," he said.

Similar problems are also being seen in Scotland where 39,000 people have been waiting over a year for treatment.

The 'hidden backlog' of waits

The NHS Confederation has warned the true picture could be much worse with nearly 6 million fewer referrals made by GPs in England for routine treatments, which includes operations such as knee and hip replacements, last year, suggested there was an additional hidden backlog.

The organisation, which represents hospitals, said it was likely people have not sought help or found it difficult to access services during the pandemic.

The numbers starting treatment for cancer and being referred for urgent check-ups returned to pre-pandemic levels in the autumn.

But the data for January showed a dip in numbers for the first time since the first wave - just under 23,000 people started treatment, compared to nearly 27,500 in January 2020.

Michelle Mitchell, Cancer Research UK's chief executive, said: "While it's positive that urgent referrals did not plummet as they did in the first wave, these January figures show that the pandemic continues to have a devastating impact on cancer patients."

NHS England said given the scale of Covid admissions seen in January, some disruption had been unavoidable.

Medical director Prof Stephen Powis said: "Admitting more than 100,000 Covid patients to hospital in a single month inevitably had a knock-on effect on some non-urgent care.

"However, thanks to the hard work of NHS staff and the innovations in treatment and care developed over the course of the pandemic, hospitals treated more than one million people with other conditions in January, at the peak of the winter wave, nearly twice as many as they did last April.

"That is a testament to the skill, dedication and commitment nurses, doctors, therapists and countless other staff showed in the most challenging period in NHS history."