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NHS whistle-blower support scheme to roll out across the country

The NHS in England is to roll out dedicated support for members of staff who raise the alarm on unsafe practice.

Following successful pilots, the NHS will soon offer practical support to any doctor, nurse, or other worker across the country who needs additional support to build their career after raising concerns at work, as part of the NHS Long Term Plan to improve care and treatment.

The move to ramp up support for whistle-blowers is part of a package of measures to put a renewed focus on the wellbeing of patients under NHS care and follows publication earlier this year of a world-first patient safety strategy, which included a requirement for every local health service to have a dedicated patient safety specialist.

Evidence shows that health services delivering a higher quality of patient care are more likely to have a positive speaking up culture.

Simon Stevens, NHS Chief Executive said: “NHS staff raise concerns because they care about our patients, and every member of our workforce – midwife, therapist, cleaner, surgeon or receptionist – who spots and reports poor practice should be supported to help put things right."

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Source: NHS England, 8 October 2019

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NHS watchdog to review patient safety at Glasgow A&E department

Patient safety in the Accident & Emergency unit at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow will be reviewed by an NHS watchdog.

Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) was first contacted by 29 A&E doctors in May 2023 warning that safety was being "seriously compromised".

HIS last month apologised for not fully investigating their concerns.

The review will consider leadership and operational issues and how they may have impacted on safety and care.

In the letter to HIS, the 29 consultants highlighted treatment delays, "inadequate" staffing levels and patients being left unassessed in unsuitable waiting areas.

They claimed this resulted in "preventable patient harm and sub-standard levels of basic patient care".

The doctors also said critical events had occurred including potentially avoidable deaths.

The consultants said repeated efforts to raise the issues with health board bosses "failed to elicit any significant response".

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Source: BBC News, 4 April 2024

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NHS watchdog launches inspection of troubled trust after The Independent exposed failures

The NHS care watchdog has launched an inspection of a troubled trust after The Independent exposed delays in diagnosing and treating dozens of patients, including some with cancer.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has sent inspectors to review care at the Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust in Greater Manchester, just days after The Independent revealed that there were serious concerns about the safety of its gynaecological services.

The trust launched an audit of the care of hundreds of women at Salford Royal Hospital’s gynaecology department in 2024, prompted by concerns that the necessary follow-ups were not carried out.

It found that dozens of patients, including cancer patients, all under the care of Dr Jim Wolfe, were harmed when their diagnosis and treatment were delayed as a result of “admin failures”.

Whistleblowers from the hospital’s gynaecology service came forward to The Independent with further concerns, alleging that the trust’s leadership was ignoring safety issues.

At the same time, an unpublished NHS England review of the service from 2024 warned that it had a “significant backlog” of more than 2,000 patient letters, including test results and referrals for treatment, that hadn’t been sent to GPs as required. This resulted in some patients’ treatment being delayed by at least five months.

The report also warned that the service was “heavily” reliant on agency doctors, and that its ability to provide on-call doctors had been affected by “significant sickness absence and suspension” among its consultants.

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Source: The Independent, 26 May 2026

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NHS was ‘overwhelmed’ in January surge, study finds

The NHS “was largely overwhelmed” at the height of the UK’s Covid second wave in January, according to a study.

New research published in Anaesthesia, a journal of the Association of Anaesthetists, revealed the scale of the pressure on hospitals during the pandemic and how stretched some units were.

Based on surveys of all NHS hospitals, with more than half responding, the study found almost a third of anaesthetists were redeployed to look after critically ill patients, leaving 42% of operating theatres closed.

This meant operations, including for cancer and emergency surgery patients, had to be cancelled.

The research, by Professor Tim Cook, a consultant in anaesthesia and intensive care at the Royal United Hospitals Bath Foundation Trust, said: “Three-quarters of critical care units were so expanded that planned surgery could not be safely resumed. At all times, the greatest resource limitation was staff.”

It is thought the findings are an underestimate of how bad the situation really was in some hospitals because the busiest units were less able to respond to the survey.

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Source: The Independent, 19 May 2021

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NHS was ‘on brink of collapse’ during pandemic, Covid inquiry finds

The NHS “teetered on the brink of collapse” during the Covid pandemic, and only just coped thanks to the “superhuman” efforts of healthcare workers, an official inquiry has concluded.

In a damning assessment of how the UK’s healthcare systems coped with the pandemic, the Covid-19 inquiry chair, Heather Hallett, said the impact was “devastating” due to the NHS being in a “parlous state” before the outbreak of the virus.

She said Covid patients did not always receive the care they needed, with some diagnoses and treatments coming too late to save lives. “Healthcare systems coped with the pandemic, but only just,” said Lady Hallett, a former court of appeal judge. “On a number of occasions, they teetered on the brink of collapse and only coped thanks to the almost superhuman efforts of healthcare workers and all the staff who support them.

“Workers carried the burden of caring for the sick in unprecedented numbers. They were obliged to work under intolerable pressure for months on end.”

She said politicians, including the former health secretary Matt Hancock, refused to admit the NHS was “overwhelmed” during the pandemic, as they believed this to mean total collapse.

“There was clearly overwhelm,” she said. “Patients could not be admitted to hospital and, in particular, into intensive care units. The pressure was, at times, intolerable. This continued for wave after wave of the virus.”

Other findings of the report included:

  • The NHS entered the pandemic with low bed numbers, high numbers of staff vacancies and high bed occupancy, meaning it was already in a “precarious position” and ill-prepared to deal with a pandemic.
  • There was not enough PPE at the start of the pandemic, meaning healthcare workers had to put themselves and their families at risk to care for patients.
  • Infection control in the early stages of the pandemic was flawed as it assumed Covid-19 was spread by physical contact, rather than being airborne.
  • The “stay home, protect the NHS, save lives” public message may have inadvertently led to a decline in hospital attendance of life-threatening emergencies such as heart attacks.
  • 80% of healthcare professionals said they acted in a way that conflicted with their values during the pandemic, with some saying they felt they were “playing God” as they were unable to give everyone the treatment they needed.

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Source: The Guardian, 19 March 2026

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NHS warns of scam Covid-test texts

The NHS is warning about widespread scam text messages telling recipients they have been in close contact with a Covid case.

"We've seen reports of fake NHS text messages about ordering Omicron Covid-19 test kits," it tweeted.

Close contacts of people who have tested positive are no longer advised to test.

The aim of the messages appears to be harvesting financial and personal information.

In its alert, the NHS says it will "never ask for bank details, so please be aware of suspicious messages".

Most people are no longer advised to test for Covid and are ineligible for free tests - but some some pharmacies and shops sell them.

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Source: BBC News, 22 June 2022

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NHS warns of rising patient safety threats amid tech failures and mental health bed crisis

The NHS is contending with severe operational pressures across several critical areas, with internal risk registers now tracking heightened threats to patient safety, data security, and core digital infrastructure.

A newly updated operational risk register has escalated a number of warnings to critical levels, pointing to an acute capacity crisis in secure mental health services and deepening vulnerabilities within the health service's technology networks. The register, which assigns numerical scores to operational threats, has placed several indicators at levels that leave no room for further escalation.

The risk score monitoring secure inpatient mental health capacity has been raised to the maximum possible level. The warning follows an urgent decision to relocate patients from a major healthcare site in Northampton after persistent patient safety concerns rendered continued occupation untenable.

Health officials have cautioned that the resulting reduction in available beds has placed considerable strain on secure inpatient capacity, complicating appropriate patient placements across the country. Secure mental health beds are among the most difficult to replace at short notice. 

Alongside the mental health crisis, national IT platforms used to manage clinician performance and professional revalidations have been classified as both unstable and severely outdated. Chronic delays in rolling out replacement programmes have produced what internal documents describe as a fragile operating environment, substantially raising the prospect of widespread operational disruption. 

Cyber resilience remains one of the health service's most elevated operational concerns. Official assessments warn that existing vulnerabilities leave NHS networks exposed to data compromises, major service disruptions, and a measurable loss of clinical productivity. 

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Source: Distilled Post, 11 June 2026

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NHS warns of continued short supply of blood

England's blood donor service has warned blood stocks are still in short supply as it launches a fresh appeal for donors, external.

Supplies of blood have improved since an "amber alert" in July but there is still a risk that the care of hospital patients could be impacted, officials said.

The number of people booking appointments to donate is dropping off over the coming months, said the service.

Young donors are urged to come forward, especially those with O negative blood type, and more donors of black heritage are also being sought to help treat patients with sickle cell disease.

In July, for only the second time in its history, the NHS warned hospitals that stocks of O-type blood - which can be given to the vast majority of patients - were running low enough to have an impact on patient treatment. This is known as an amber alert.

The NHS said it was due to a "perfect storm" of unfilled appointments at donor centres and increased demand following a cyber-attack, which affected services in London.

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Source: BBC News, 28 August 2024

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NHS warns of 18,000 flu deaths since 2022 as it urges vaccination uptake

At least 18,000 deaths in England were associated with flu over the past two winters, figures have revealed, as health experts urge those eligible to take up a free vaccination on the NHS.

The figures from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) cover the period from October to May in 2022-2023 and 2023-2024. Over the same timeframe UKHSA estimates a little more than 19,500 deaths were associated with Covid.

Steve Russell, the NHS national director for vaccinations and screening, said:

“Today’s data showing there were almost 20,000 deaths associated to flu over the past two winters is a shocking reminder that this is a seriously dangerous virus, and I urge those who are eligible to book their vaccine appointment as soon as they can as it is our best way of protecting those who are vulnerable as winter approaches.”

UKHSA said uptake of the flu vaccine fell last winter compared with the year before across all eligible groups, including the very young, elderly people and pregnant women. Among people aged six months to 65 years with one or more long-term health condition uptake declined from 49.1% in the winter of 2022-2023 to 41.4% in the winter of 2023-2024.

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Source: The Guardian, 30 September 2024

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NHS warns of 'tidal wave' of flu as hospital cases rise 70% in England

The number of hospital beds in England occupied by patients with flu has increased by 70% in a week, NHS England said, as it warned of a “tidal wave of flu hitting hospitals”.

Health leaders said that people eligible for their free flu jab should get vaccinated as soon as possible to avoid “festive flu”.

An average of 1,861 flu patients were in hospitals in England each day last week, including 66 in critical care beds, NHS figures show. This is up from 1,099 patients the previous week, when 39 were in critical care. It is also more than four times the figure at this point last year.

NHS England said cases of norovirus and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) were also on the rise.

Prof Sir Stephen Powis, the national medical director for NHS England, said on Thursday: “The tidal wave of flu cases and other seasonal viruses hitting hospitals is really concerning for patients and for the NHS – the figures are adding to our ‘quad-demic’ worries.

“While the NHS has plans in place to manage additional demand over the busy winter period, with one week left to book your vaccine, I cannot stress enough the importance of getting booked in to protect yourself against serious illness and to avoid ‘festive flu’.”

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Source: The Guardian, 12 December 2024

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NHS warned over writing to patients in English after child dies

Patient safety investigators have issued a warning to the NHS over writing to patients only in English after a Romanian child died following missed cancer scans.

The three-year-old, of Romanian ethnicity, had an MRI scan delayed after they were found to have eaten food beforehand.

When the appointment for the child’s MRI scan was made by the radiology booking team, a standard letter was produced by the NHS booking system in English asking the child not to eat before the scan, despite the family’s first language being Romanian. Staff at the trust had hand-written on the patient’s MRI request sheet that an interpreter was required.

“The family recognised key details in the written information, including the time, date and location of the scan,” the report said.

“However, they were not able to understand the instructions about the child not eating or drinking (fasting) for a certain amount of time before the scan.”

The Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch (HSIB) has urged NHS England to develop and implement new rules on supplying written appointment information in languages other than English.

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Source: The Independent, 27 April 2023

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NHS warned multiple times that imaging shortages may kill

Coroners have warned the NHS nearly a dozen times in recent years that a lack of imaging capacity could lead to more deaths, HSJ can reveal.

Five of these warnings followed deaths at a single site, Tameside General Hospital in Greater Manchester. The most recent case concerned a patient that died after developing covid during a prolonged wait for an MRI scan.

Sir Mike Richards last year warned in a major report for NHS England about the lack of imaging equipment, and the Royal College of Radiologists has highlighted national shortages of radiology staff on numerous occasions in recent years.

HSJ combed through more than 100 prevention of future death reports and responses published between 2018 and 2021 in an effort to quantify harm linked to these shortages.

Of dozens of reports mentioning imaging issues, including software problems, poor note-taking and incorrect interpretation of results, HSJ identified 11 cases where coroners specifically warned either the trust or system concerned, and/or NHS England or the Department for Health and Social Care, that capacity issues could lead to future deaths.

In some of the cases, coroners concluded that shortages likely contributed to a patient’s death. 

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Source: HSJ, 20 May 2021

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NHS warned ‘cramming’ A&Es with medics is not working

The NHS’s efforts to prop up emergency departments with thousands of additional medical staff has been the wrong approach to solving the crisis in these services, experts have argued.

Analysis of NHS staffing data by HSJ shows the emergency care medical workforce has grown by almost two-thirds since 2016, far outstripping the growth in other specialties. Despite this, waiting times in accident and emergency have deteriorated significantly over the same period.

John Appleby, chief economist at the Nuffield Trust think tank, said: “Cramming the A&E department with more doctors doesn’t look like it’s having the intended effect over the last four to five years. Waiting times have got worse and we have more staff.

“Increasing staffing has helped with waiting times in the past, but maybe we have reached a point where it’s not staffing in A&E which is the issue. The issue is the front door and the backdoor of the A&E.”

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Source: HSJ, 17 March 2023

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NHS Wales: Waiting times hit record levels

According to recent reports, the number of patients on waiting lists for non-urgent hospital treatment in Wales has again hit record levels. Data has revealed there were 624,909 people waiting in June, and those waiting the longest, more than nine months, rose again to 233,210.

A Welsh government spokesperson said: "Waiting times for treatment continue to grow. However, it is encouraging to see progress being made with the number of patients waiting over 52 weeks falling for the third month in a row. We also saw the largest number of specialist consultations completed and treatments started in any month since the start of the pandemic."

A&E time performance has been at its worst on record, with 94,176 attendances to emergency units over the month. Health spokesman Russell George said: "To record the worst ever A&E waiting times and the longest NHS treatment waiting list in the same month shows a complete lack of leadership."

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Source: BBC News, 19 August 2021

Related Reading

Patient Safety Learning blog: Tackling the care and treatment backlog safely (19 August 2021)

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NHS Wales: Thousands of hours missing from A&E figures

The true picture of A&E waiting times in Wales has been seriously under-reported for a decade, the BBC can reveal.

The Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) has established thousands of hours are missed from monthly figures.

Senior A&E doctors have been raising the issue for months.

The Welsh government said it would ask health boards for assurances they were following the guidance "to ensure the data is absolutely transparent".

The RCEM said it could not measure "how bad" things were because thousands of patients subject to so-called "breach exemptions" were not included in the overall A&E waiting times.

The Welsh government initially disputed the RCEM's claim, but after seeing detailed figures - which were obtained through freedom of information (FOI) requests to health boards - it changed its position.

Wales' health minister has repeatedly claimed A&E waiting times in Wales have "bettered English performance".

But once the missing data is taken into account, it suggests the performance in Wales is worse.

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Source: BBC News, 16 October 2023

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NHS Wales: Patients can be sent home without care package

Senior NHS staff have been advised by the Welsh government to discharge people who are well enough to leave, even without a package of care.

But one GP called the announcement "terrifying" and warned that patients could deteriorate and end up back in hospital.

The seven health boards in Wales have nearly 1,800 patients medically well enough to leave hospital.

The Welsh government has called the NHS situation "unprecedented".

The message comes after one health leader said the NHS was on a "knife-edge" in terms of its ability to cope.

The letter from the chief nursing officer and the deputy chief medical officer to the health boards offered "support and advice to ensure patients are kept as safe as possible, and services are kept as effective as possible over the next period".

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Source; BBC News, 4 January 2023

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NHS Wales: Falls project avoids 50 needless ambulance callouts

A new scheme in Wales to help people who have suffered falls has prevented 50 ambulances being unnecessarily sent this year.

St John Ambulance works with Hywel Dda health board in Pembrokeshire to send its people when someone calls 999.

The pilot has been used 96 times since January but it needs more health board funding to continue after March.

Ageing Well in Wales estimates that between 230,000 and 460,000 over 60s fall each year.

When people dial 999, it can be directed to the St John Ambulance falls response team, who are sent to perform an assessment and identify whether the person can stay home or needs an ambulance to take them to hospital.

St John Ambulance operational team leader Robert James said in 60% of cases, the person was well enough to stay at home.

"You can imagine if you were sending an ambulance crew out and it has wasted 60% of the crew's time, well it's a big saving towards the NHS and the ambulance service in itself," he added.

"Provided there are no injuries, or reason for them to go to hospital, they can be discharged on the scene."

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Source: BBC News, 10 March 2023

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NHS Wales: App helping keep heart patients out of hospital

Mobile apps to track patients' health are keeping them out of hospital and could cut waiting times, experts have said.

It follows a trial of a new app which heart patients are using through their mobile phones. The trial allows clinicians to change treatments quickly and uses video consultations, avoiding unnecessary hospital visits.

Rhodri Griffiths is the innovation adoption director at Life Sciences Hub Wales, and is looking for more ways to introduce similar technology. He believes the pandemic accelerated the use and acceptance of digital solutions in healthcare, by patients and clinicians.

"We really are looking at a big digital revolution within healthcare and there are an amazing myriad of things coming through," he said.

He explained data collected by smartphones and watches can help predict who is likely to have a heart attack.

"We can avoid that happening. So prevention is key but it's also looking at how some of this can impact on waiting lists," he said.

"So, looking at how theatres are used, which patients can be prioritised?

"In social care it's looking at how pain is managed by face recognition."

Mr Griffiths said he believed the data collected could also identify wider problems: "It's combining these digital solutions with our genetic information - bringing big data together on a population level we can start spotting trends".

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Source: BBC News, 4 August 2022

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NHS Wales under pressure

As services return to normal, Chief executive of NHS Wales has warned the Welsh NHS is under "substantial pressure".

As safety measures are needed to remain in place, the resuming of normal services has created a challenge, with patient waiting lists becoming longer and A&E attendance returning to pre-pandemic levels. 

There is now some concern the new Delta variant may increase hospital admissions, adding more strain to the already strained system. 

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Source: BBC News, 17 June 2021

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NHS Wales consultant explains why healthcare system is on verge of collapse

The NHS is on the verge of collapse due to demand for healthcare rising significantly faster than funding levels, a consultant has warned. Peter Neville, a consultant for NHS Wales, took to social media to explain why, in his view, the system is failing.

The consultant physician, who has been working in the NHS in Yorkshire and Wales for 32 years, set out the challenges facing the health service in a Twitter thread. He said he had experienced the NHS at its best, in 2008, and its worst, in 2022.

He wrote: "Over at least the past 15 years, we have seen a relentless increase in demand, both in primary care and in hospital care. This has been absolutely predictable by social statisticians for decades and is based on the fact that our elderly are surviving much longer.

"Our elderly use a very large percentage of NHS of resources, unsurprisingly because they are more prone to disease, frailty, and dementia. They need more social care and hospital care as they get older. And they are living longer. (Immigrants, by the way, use much less care).

"Over this period NHS funding has, broadly speaking, risen about 1-2% over inflation. If NHS funding increases with inflation yet demand increases, then clearly spend per person will drop. Demand has increased considerably above 2%, which is why the NHS is failing to manage it."

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Source: Wales Online, 3 January 2023

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NHS waits: More people feeling forced into private healthcare

"To be put in a position where you're basically begging off people, it's infuriating."

Last October, 12-year-old Hayden Kildea was diagnosed with severe scoliosis, a condition where the spine twists and curves to the side. Left untreated, it can become a dangerous and life-limiting condition.

The Kildeas, who live in Strabane, Northern Ireland, say they were told Hayden would need urgent surgery - but that because of the backlog caused by the pandemic, he would have to wait more than two years.

His mum Shauna found a clinic in Turkey that was able to carry out the operation immediately, but it would cost £50,000 - money the family didn't have. So in the summer, they turned to crowdfunding and campaigning to raise the money.

Millions of people across the UK are currently on NHS waiting lists - in Northern Ireland there are over 465,000 people, while in England, 5.6m are queuing for treatment.

Data shared with BBC Panorama shows that on average, waiting lists have grown by 50% in the most deprived parts of England since the start of the pandemic, compared with nearly 35% in the most affluent areas.

The research, conducted by the King's Fund, also shows that people on waiting lists in poorer areas are nearly twice as likely as those in wealthier areas to wait more than one year for treatment.

The Health and Social Care Board in Northern Ireland said patient demand continued "to exceed capacity across a range of specialties". It added: "As a result, even before the pandemic, the number of people waiting longer than the target waiting times was increasing."

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Source: BBC News, 27 September 2021

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NHS waits force patients to pay for private ops

Long NHS waiting times appear to be pushing people into paying thousands of pounds for private treatment.

There were 69,000 self-funded treatments in the UK in the final three months of last year - a 39% rise on the same period before the pandemic.

Experts said it was a sign of how desperate people had become.

The BBC has seen evidence of people taking out loans and resorting to crowdfunding to pay for private treatment.

The figures from the Private Healthcare Information Network (PHIN) do not include those who have private insurance - instead they are the people paying the full cost of treatment themselves, leaving them liable for huge bills.

Patient groups warned there was a risk of a two-tier system being created, with the poorest losing out because they were the least likely to be able to afford to pay for treatment.

Patient watchdog Healthwatch England said waits for treatment were one of the most common concerns flagged by patients, and warned the situation risked "widening health inequalities".

Chief executive Louise Ansari said for most people going private "simply isn't an option", especially with the cost-of-living crisis.

"People on the lowest incomes are the most likely to wait the longest for NHS treatment. This leads to a worse impact on their physical health, mental health and ability to work and care for loved ones."

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Source: BBC News, 21 July 2022

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NHS waiting-list backlog will take years to clear

The waiting list for hospital treatment will not start falling for two years, ministers say, despite unveiling a plan to tackle England's backlog in care.

Six million people are on a waiting list - one in nine of the population. But Health Secretary Sajid Javid said this number would probably increase, with demand expected to rise now Covid pressure was easing.

He also set out plans to reduce waiting times for cancer treatment. These include a 28-day target for cancer diagnosis by March 2024, which should have been introduced last year but was delayed by the pandemic.

The proportion of cancer patients starting treatment within 62 days would return to its pre-pandemic level by March 2023, Mr Javid said, although this would still leave it some way short of the 85% target.*

Waiting times would be cut by a 30% rise in the NHS's capacity for treatment, he said.

Crucial to this will be the establishment of a network of 160 community diagnostic centres along with surgical hubs focused on high-volume routine surgery away from major hospital sites - to increase efficiency and reduce the chance of emergency cases leading to cancellations.

Extra investment of £8bn over the next three years, funded through a national-insurance rise, will pay for these new facilities.

To free up staff time, follow-up appointments would be arranged on a case-by-case basis, rather than for all patients automatically, Mr Javid said. And a new online service, My Planned Care, will inform patients about waiting times and how to prepare for treatment.

The plan would not just "reset" the NHS to where it had been before Covid, Mr Javid said, but build on what had been learned and make it "fit for the future".

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Source: BBC News, 8 February 2022

Delivery plan for tackling the COVID-19 backlog of elective care

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NHS waiting times in Wales plunge to lowest in six years

NHS waiting lists in Wales have fallen to the lowest level in almost six years. The latest waiting time figures, published on March 19, show the average waiting time for treatment is now around 18 weeks – down from 23 weeks in August 2024 and the lowest since the pandemic started.

Around 557,900 individual patients are currently on treatment waiting lists in Wales, the NHS Activity and Performance Summary: January and February 2026 shows.

At the same time targets are being missed on ambulance times, waits in accident and emergency departments and for cancer treatment, the document also shows.

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Source: Wales Online, 19 March 2026

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