Hospitals issue warning about key NHS waiting list target as winter crisis looms

The government will not meet its ambition of getting NHS waiting times down to 18 weeks without investing in primary care, children’s services and mental health, NHS leaders have warned.

Healthcare chiefs also warned there is a “fundamental mismatch” between demand for services and what the NHS is able to do.

The boss of a trust that provides community and mental health services warned children are being “let down” amid “enormous” waiting lists.

“It’s really disappointing to see how absent children are, first of all in terms of policy, and I couldn’t account more strongly the extent to which I think they are being let down collectively,

“Waiting lists are enormous and are simply growing as things stand...there is a fundamental mismatch between demand and capacity as things stand,” they said.

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Source: The Independent, 12 November 2024