Some 83,203 people were waiting more than 52 weeks to start hospital treatment in July, the highest number for any month since November 2008 according to figures released this morning by Public Health England.
A&E attendances at hospitals in England continue to be below levels a year ago. A total of 1.7m attendances were recorded in August 2020, down 19% from 2.1m attendances in August 2019.
NHS England said the fall was “likely to be a result of the Covid-19 response” – suggesting that people are still staying away from A&E departments because of the coronavirus outbreak.
Meanwhile the number of people having to wait more than 18 weeks to start hospital treatment in England rose to 2.15m in July of this year, more than three times the number in July 2019 (620,454) and the highest number for any calendar month since current records began in August 2007.
A total of 179,503 urgent cancer referrals were made by GPs in England in July 2020, down from 221,805 in July 2019 – a fall of 19% and urgent breast cancer referrals were down from 15,824 in July 2019 to 10,441 in July 2020 – a fall of 34%.
Responding to the publication today by NHS England of the monthly performance statistics, Tim Gardner, Senior Fellow at the Health Foundation, said:
‘Today’s figures represent a significant milestone, with the highest number of people receiving A&E and planned treatment since March when the lockdown began. This is testimony to the hard work of NHS staff, and their determination to return services to normal as much as possible.
‘But the figures also show that normality is still a long way off and there is a growing backlog of unmet health care need. The number of people urgently referred to a specialist for suspected cancer in July was down 19% compared to 2019 and nearly 300,000 fewer people have been referred to a cancer specialist in 2020 when compared to the same time last year. It is also concerning that over 2.1 million people have waited longer than the target 18 weeks for routine treatment such as hip operations – the highest number of people since records began.
‘If people do not get treatment when they need it, we will be storing up more serious health problems for the future. The government and health services must continue to do everything they can to ensure people feel safe and supported to use the NHS when they need it.’
