Patients are missing out on vital treatments, diagnostic tests and outpatient appointments due to the coronavirus pandemic, new data shows, as waiting times soar across NHS England.
The full extent of the monumental pressure the NHS came under at the height of the Covid-19 crisis and the effect the crisis has had on patients is laid bare in the latest data.
Cancer
The number of people entering treatment for cancer has dropped significantly meaning many patients who would have ordinarily been tested for cancer were not seen. In April 2019 almost 200,000 people were referred to a consultant for suspected cancer by their GPs. This April that figure fell to just 79,573.
MacMillan approximate, 210,000 people should have entered the system in April. That means roughly 130,000 people who would ordinarily be referred to a consultant have not been. Around 7% of these patients would usually require cancer treatment meaning around 9,000 people might not have had their cancer diagnosed in April.
Diagnostics
Patients requiring certain diagnostic tests – such as MRI scans, echocardiograms and colonoscopies – for six weeks or more soared to 468,622 making April the worst month on record. On average in the year to January 5,741 patients were waiting more than six weeks for an MRI scan. That figure stood at almost 79,000 in April.
Referrals to treatment
The median length of time patients are waiting on the referral for treatment stood at 12.2 weeks in April, the longest they have been in well over a decade. More than a million patients are now waiting for more than 18 weeks for treatment.
The number of patients waiting over a year for a test jumped from 1,613 in February to 11,042 in April, a seven-fold increase in just two months.
A&E
Having fallen to an all time low in April the number of people attending major A&E departments rose again in May, from 689,720 to 924,215. In the year prior to the crisis hitting A&E attendances averaged at 1.3m.
When other A&E attendances are included (single specialty and minor injury units) 1.3m people attended A&E departments in May, the second lowest number since records began.
