Nuffield Trust response to latest NHS performance statistics

Commenting on NHS performance data published today, Nuffield Trust Director of Research and Policy Dr Becks Fisher said: 

“Today’s figures show that the NHS waiting list has gone up slightly after falling over most months this year. It remains stubbornly high at 7.37 million and the NHS is struggling to keep pace with demand.

"But the reported numbers on the planned treatment waiting list only show part of the picture. Our new analysis shows that waiting list reductions in previous months are not wholly due to increases in appointments being delivered. In fact, the NHS is still treating fewer patients than are being referred. But, an average of about 245,000 cases have been coming off the list each month due to reasons other than patients being recorded as getting their treatment. Doing this work to improve the accuracy of the waiting list is important, but we should be under no illusions that despite delivering more appointments, the NHS is still not meeting patient demand.

“The Health Secretary has praised “record investment and fundamental NHS reform” as the reasons behind reductions in the waiting list earlier this year, but there are lingering background causes that go unmentioned.

"We know from our analysis of the British Social Attitudes Survey that long waits for hospital care are core to falling public satisfaction with the NHS, so the Government is absolutely right to focus on driving down waiting times. But at present it is not clear from this data how much progress is really being made, amid continued growing demand for planned treatment. We need more transparent reporting otherwise the waiting list is an incomplete picture of how the NHS is dealing with the backlog.”