NHS waiting lists fall for fifth month in a row as Rishi Sunak says 'our plan ... trends now
NHS waiting lists for routine hospital treatment have shrunk for the fifth month in a row.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak hailed it as proof that hospitals are finally getting a grip on the mammoth backlog.
More than 7.54million procedures like hip replacements and cataract surgery were waiting to be carried out at the end of February. Tens of thousands were booked in over a year ago.
The overall figure was down by around 36,000 on January, according to statistics from NHS England.
Queues stood closer to 7.2m at the beginning of 2023, when Mr Sunak promised to slash waiting lists so 'people will get the care they need more quickly'. It means the waiting list has grown by around 300,000 since, with officials blaming strike chaos for piling extra pressure on hospitals battling an 'eternal winter'.
Mr Sunak admitted that 'we haven't made as much progress as I would like'.
But he added: 'Today's figures show we are making headway towards that goal. We still have more work to do, but our plan is working.'
Mr Sunak also said an extra 430,000 patients could have been treated had doctors and nurses decided not to strike in pursuit of bumper pay deals.
His comments come after Health Secretary Victoria Atkins admitted that Mr Sunak had failed to deliver on his vow.
She told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'I don’t think anyone could have thought that it was an easy promise to make and it was going to be easy to achieve.
'Of course we know there are people waiting, they’re in pain, they’re in anguish. We absolutely understand that.'
Ms Atkins told Times Radio the waiting list shrinking was 'a significant achievement, particularly when it is against the background of industrial action by junior doctors'.
'We have seen waiting lists fall, we have an unrelenting commitment, determination, to reduce yet further those backlogs and we are seeing progress.'
She added: 'Across the country there are different achievements, across the country different trusts managing to manage their waiting lists.
'What we are trying to do is spread that good best practice across the country incentivising trusts so that they are dealing with their backlogs but also importantly meeting the targets for people who are entering the system today and next week and so on.'
Wes Streeting, Labour's shadow health secretary, said: 'Rishi Sunak has failed on the NHS.
'Waiting lists are still 320,000 longer than when he became Prime Minister, despite his promise to cut them.'
Lib Dem leader Ed Davey said: 'Rishi Sunak is living in a parallel universe if he thinks our
