Stock image of a hospital
(Picture: PA Wire)More than 900,000 patients are waiting for hospital care in London, NHS figures revealed on Thursday.
The capital’s A&Es were also under intense pressure, with almost 4,000 patients waiting more than 12 hours on a trolley last month after doctors decided they were sick enough to require admission to a ward.
The number awaiting non-emergency hospital care – such as operations, scans and consultations with specialists - increased in London to 905,574 by the end of February and to almost 6.2m nationwide, a new record.
The London total was up more than 15,000 on January and included 81,709 awaiting trauma or orthopaedic care, 75,858 awaiting gynaecology and 69,510 ear, nose and throat services.
In A&E units, King’s College hospitals – which includes the Princess Royal in Orpington - treated 61 per cent of patients within the target four hours last month.
Barking, Havering and Redbridge trust – Queen’s in Romford and King George in Ilford – managed 62 per cent.
The Royal Free trust – which includes Barnet General – managed 66 per cent.
At Barking and Havering, 834 patients waited more than 12 hours to be admitted as did 604 at the Royal Free trust.
The total number of 12-hour A&E waits across England was 22,506. The figure is up from 16,404 in February, and is the highest for any calendar month in records going back to August 2010.
Nationwide, a total of 6,183,203 were awaiting non-emergency care – up almost 80,000 on the previous month and the highest number since records began in August 2007.
Of those, 299,478 were waiting more than a year and 23,281 were waiting more than two years.
Lib Dem health spokeswoman Daisy Cooper said: “This is catastrophic for people up and down the country.”
NHS England said 2.17m people attended A&E in March, almost 20 per cent higher than February and the highest March figure ever recorded.
This is on top of staff dealing with 170,000 inpatients with covid during winter, and 3.7m days being lost due to covid-related staff absences in the same period
Currently, there are 15,399 people in hospital with covid – only 1,700 fewer than the Omicron peak on January 10.
NHS England said the number of people waiting longest for treatment was reducing despite the NHS having faced the “busiest ever winter”.
It said the number waiting more than a year fell by 12,000, while there was reduction of more than 500 in the number waiting more than two years.
NHS national medical director Professor Stephen Powis said: “Nobody should be under any illusion about how tough a job NHS staff have on their hands, balancing competing priorities and maintaining high quality patient care.
“Despite pressure on various fronts and the busiest winter ever for the NHS, long waits fell as staff continue to tackle two-year waits by July thanks to the innovative approaches to care they are now adopting – from same day hip replacements to dedicated mobile hubs for operations.”
