High waits for treatment are not new. Prior to the pandemic in February 2020 there were already 4.4 million people on a waiting list for care.
At the beginning of the pandemic, the combination of suspension of non-urgent services and changes to individuals’ behaviour meant that the number of people joining the waiting list initially dropped. However, this has since been rising – and despite some improvements earlier in the year, waiting times remain far higher than pre-COVID.
The figures for February 2023 showed:
- Around 7.22 million people waiting for treatment
- Nearly 3.0 million of these patients waiting over 18 weeks
- Around 362,500 of these patients waiting over a year for treatment – which is around 169 times the number of people waiting over a year in February 2020, before the pandemic began
- A median waiting time for treatment of 14.5 weeks – nearly double the pre-COVID median wait of 7.5 weeks in February 2020.
More information on waiting lists here
