PM defends NHS record as targets missed in England

Rishi Sunak has defended his record on the NHS, as new data shows that key targets on waiting lists and waiting times in A&E have been missed.

Mr Sunak said "we are making headway," with figures showing a slight fall in the number of people waiting for routine hospital treatment.

But data for March shows targets for the number of people seen in A&E within four hours were not met.

Labour said the prime minister has failed on the NHS.

The chief executive of the NHS confederation, Matthew Taylor, said the health service faced challenges ahead.

Latest figures show around 74.2% people who visited Accident and Emergency in March this year were seen, admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours. This missed the target of 76%, although it was still an improvement on previous months.

Another target set for the NHS was to eliminate all waits of 65 weeks or more for treatment by March this year. This has been pushed back to September.

In an exclusive interview with the prime minister, the BBC's Health Editor Hugh Pym challenged him, asking what he would say to patients who have waited longer than 65 weeks, often in pain.

Mr Sunak said: "None of this is acceptable and I'm doing absolutely everything I can to bring the waiting list down."

Cutting NHS waiting lists is one of five priorities Mr Sunak set out in January 2023.

In February, the overall waiting list for routine treatments stood at 7.54 million, slightly down on the month before.

However, when changes to how the list is measured are taken it account it means figures remained stable rather than showing an improvement, compared with the previous month.

There has still been a drop though compared with a peak of 7.7 million late last year.

Mr Sunak suggested more patients could have been treated if long-standing strike action by consultants and junior doctors had not taken place.

He cited NHS England research published in March which suggested around 430,000 more patients could have been treated had there been no strike action.

"We still have more work to do, but our plan is working," he said.

The latest NHS England figures show:

• An estimated 7.54 million planned treatments were waiting to be carried out in February, involving 6.29 million patients (as some patients are waiting for more than one procedure)

• The number of patients waiting more than 65 weeks for treatment was 75,004 at the end of February, down from 92,213 (19%) in January

• There were 2.35 million visits to A&E in March, up 8.6% on numbers for March 2023, making it one of the busiest months so far

• Some 74.2% of patients were seen within four hours in A&E in March, up from 70.9% in February and the highest figure since April 2023

Louise Law, 56, said she has been "broken" by the long wait for a knee replacement.

The teacher, from Hampshire, was told to lose weight in preparation for the operation last year - but despite following doctor's orders she is still waiting for treatment, nearly two years after first being referred.

"My mobility was so poor that I didn't feel comfortable or safe in the classroom", she told the BBC after taking early retirement.

"I have worked very hard, paid all my taxes and National Insurance and always championed the NHS but feel completely abandoned and forgotten by the system," Ms Law added.

Wes Streeting, Labour's shadow health secretary, said: "Rishi Sunak has failed on the NHS. He's missed his own targets to cut ambulance waits and A&E waits.

"Patients with suspected heart attacks or strokes are waiting almost double the safe amount of time, when every minute matters.

"Doctors have said that patients in desperate need of care have been left waiting for 24 hours in A&E, while relatively healthy patients have been seen faster in order to hit this four-hour target."

Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey said: "This week we uncovered that over 150,000 people waited over 24 hours in A&E last year. Now we find that waiting lists have gone up by 330,000 after Rishi Sunak pledged to cut them.

"To add insult to injury, the Conservatives have cut NHS spending while millions of patients are suffering in pain on endless waiting lists.

"Rishi Sunak is living in a parallel universe if he thinks our National Health Service is recovering.

"The Conservative Party and the prime minister are out of touch, out of ideas and deserve to be kicked out of office."