Is the NHS waiting list even bigger than what they're telling us? Real toll may ... trends now

The NHS waiting list could be 3 million people longer than previously thought — with many waiting more than a year, an official report reveals.

The Office for National Statistics said its survey of 90,000 adults in England found 21 per cent were waiting for an NHS appointment, including an operation or scan.

This means that around 9.7 million people — more than one in five — are waiting when the results are extrapolated to the whole population.

However, separate figures published by NHS England state there were 6.3 million people waiting for 7.6 million appointments as of the end of January, with some people needing more than one type of care.

Part of the discrepancy may be because the NHS does not include those waiting for follow-up consultations, with critics previously accusing health chiefs of keeping these people on a 'hidden waiting list' that means they can be sidelined as a low priority. 

The representative ONS survey also found one in seven respondents who were waiting for an NHS appointment had been waiting for more than a year, whereas NHS England says only one in 20 on their lists have been delayed this long.

According to the ONS figures, this would suggest 1.35 million patients have been waiting longer than 12 months — four times more than the 321,394 stated by NHS England.