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The waiting list for routine hospital treatment in England has risen for the first time in seven months, new figures show.
An estimated 7.57 million treatments were waiting to be carried out at the end of April, relating to 6.33 million patients – up slightly from 7.54 million treatments and 6.29 million patients at the end of March, NHS England said.
The list hit a record high in September 2023 with 7.77 million treatments and 6.50 million patients.
It comes as prime minister Rishi Sunak said the NHS waiting list was coming down when questioned on Sky News during Wednesday’s election debate.
Figures published by NHS England, some 5,013 patients in England had been waiting more than 18 months to start routine treatment at the end of April, up from 4,770 in March.
The Government and NHS England set the ambition of eliminating all waits of more than 18 months by April 2023, excluding exceptionally complex cases or patients who choose to wait longer.
There were 50,397 patients who had been waiting more than 65 weeks to start treatment at the end of April, up from 48,968 in March.
The target to eliminate all waits of over 65 weeks is now September 2024, having previously been March 2024.
Meanwhile, a total of 302,589 people in England had been waiting more than 52 weeks to start routine hospital treatment at the end of April, down from 309,300 at the end of March.
The Government and NHS England have set the ambition of eliminating all waits of more than a year by March 2025.
The rising waiting list comes as new figures show a record 2.4 million people attended A&E in May, while the number of patients admitted stood at 564,693 – the second-highest month on record after May 2024 when 567,456 admissions were recorded.
The number of people waiting more than 12 hours to be seen, treated or discharged after arriving in A&E last month hit, 145,094 – up from 138,658.
The number of patients waiting at least four hours from the decision to admit to admission also increased, from 134,344 in April to 138,770 in May.
Some 74.0 per cent of patients in England were seen within four hours in A&Es last month, down from 74.4 per cent in April.
The NHS recovery plan set a target of March this year for 76 per cent of patients attending A&E to be admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours.
More to follow…
