New figures show that a record number of people are now waiting to start routine NHS treatment in England. A total of 6.6 million people were waiting to start treatment at the end of May, NHS England said, up from 6.5 million in April and the highest number since records began in August 2007.
The number of people having to wait more than 52 weeks to start hospital treatment in England stood at 331,623 in May, up from 323,093 the previous month. The Government and NHS England have set the ambition of eliminating all waits of more than a year by March 2025.
A total of 8,028 people in England were waiting more than two years to start routine hospital treatment at the end of May, NHS England said. This is down from 12,735 at the end of April but is more than three times the 2,608 people who were waiting longer than two years in April 2021.
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Meanwhile, the average response time in June for ambulances in England dealing with the most urgent incidents, defined as calls from people with life-threatening illnesses or injuries, was nine minutes and six seconds, NHS England figures show. This is up from eight minutes and 36 seconds in May.
The target standard response time for urgent incidents is seven minutes. The record longest average response time for this category of incidents is nine minutes and 35 seconds, which was set in March this year.
Ambulances in England took an average of 51 minutes and 38 seconds last month to respond to emergency calls such as burns, epilepsy and strokes. This is up sharply from 39 minutes and 58 seconds in May, and is well above the target of 18 minutes.
Response times for urgent calls, such as late stages of labour, non-severe burns and diabetes, averaged two hours, 53 minutes and 54 seconds. This is also up sharply from two hours, nine minutes and 32 seconds in May.
Some 22,034 people had to wait more than 12 hours in A&E departments in England in June from a decision to admit to actually being admitted, NHS England said. The figure is up from 19,053 the previous month, but still below a record of 24,138 in April, which was the highest for any calendar month in records going back to August 2010.
The number waiting at least four hours from the decision to admit to admission stood at 130,109 in June, up from 122,768 the previous month. A total of 72.1% of patients in England were seen within four hours at A&Es last month, down from 73.0% in May.
The operational standard is that at least 95% of patients attending A&E should be admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours, but this has not been met nationally since 2015.
It has also been revealed that fewer than three-quarters of patients in England said they have had a good experience of their GP practice. The annual GP Patient Survey found that 72% of patients reported an overall good experience of their GP practice in 2022, down from 83% the previous year and 82% in 2020.
The poll also found that in 2022 72% of the 719,000 respondents were satisfied with the appointment they were offered the last time they tried to book one, down from 82% in 2021. At their last appointment 91% said their needs were met (down from 94% in 2021), 84% said the healthcare professional was good at treating them with care and concern (down from 88%), and 93% said they had confidence and trust in their healthcare professional (down from 96%).
Some 51% said that they saw or spoke to someone at a time they wanted or sooner (down from 59% last year), 53% who wanted a same-day appointment got one (down from 60%), and 56% said they had a good experience making an appointment (down from 71%).
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