Daily Mail

CRIPPLING TOLL OF COVID RULES

More than 110,000 patients now waiting over a YEAR for treatment... 100 times greater than before Covid

- By Kate Pickles Health Correspond­ent

THE full impact of lockdown on the NHS was laid bare yesterday as figures showed that more than 110,000 people have been waiting over a year for treatment.

Incredibly, this number has increased almost 100-fold since February – the month before the Covid lockdown – when it stood at just over 1,100.

Overall, 4.2 million people are waiting for NHS care, with almost 2 million having waited beyond the 18-week target for routine treatment such as cataract operations or hip and knee surgery. And there are thousands fewer people being tested or treated for cancer than at the same time last year.

The waiting lists illustrate just how hard the NHS has been hit by the lockdown – and how it is struggling to clear the treatment backlog.

Charities say the delays – particular­ly in cancer treatment – are costing lives, while hundreds of thousands are facing winter in ‘excruciati­ng pain’ waiting for help with treatable conditions.

Sara Bainbridge, of Macmillan Cancer Support, said: ‘Six months from the start of the pandemic, there were still thousands fewer people being tested or treated for cancer than the same time last year, meaning that the

backlog of patients continues to grow. The implicatio­ns of this are extremely worrying.’ It came as: ■ Ministers were accused of using flimsy data after relying on figures based on fewer than 100 pubs to justify the potential closure of tens of thousands of venues across the North of England.

■ Amid Cabinet tensions, Health Secretary Matt Hancock was accused of trying to ‘bounce’ Boris Johnson into closing the hospitalit­y sector in northern cities;

■ Nearly 15,000 doctors and scientists joined the call for a rethink of policies;

■ The Government said that as of 9am yesterday, there had been a further 17,540 lab-confirmed cases of coronaviru­s and another 77 deaths;

■ The average age of people who have died from Covid-19 in England and Wales is 82.4, according to a new study – in contrast, those dying of non-Covid causes since the pandemic began is 81.5;

■ Figures showed that more than 1,600 students at two Tyneside universiti­es, and another 100 in Durham, had tested positive, while Nottingham now has the highest virus rate in England;

■ It emerged that out of the 205 NHS trusts in England, 153 admitted no more than one Covid patient per day in the last week of September;

■ The Housing Secretary said the mandatory wearing of masks in offices would be ‘taken into considerat­ion’.

Speculatio­n intensifie­d last night over the introducti­on of new lockdown-style restrictio­ns following another rise in cases.

Despite growing scientific dissent over the effectiven­ess of lockdowns as a longterm strategy, one Government adviser warned that coronaviru­s was ‘holding a gun to Boris Johnson’s head’.

Mr Hancock warned that the country was at a ‘perilous moment’ in the course of the pandemic, but many Tory MPs and experts are calling for a strategic rethink, warning that lockdown- style measures risk doing more harm than good to public health and the economy in the long run.

Yesterday’s figures showed that 111,000 patients were waiting longer than a year for NHS treatment by August, compared to just 1,163 in February. It is the highest figure in 12 years.

The number of people waiting more than 18 weeks to start hospital treatment in England was 1.96 million in August, three times the number for August 2019.

The figures also showed that A&E attendance­s remain low, with 1.7 million in September – 400,000 lower than a year ago.

This suggests many patients are still avoiding seeking help because they are worried about being a burden or catching coronaviru­s in hospital.

Neil Mortensen, president of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, said: ‘The data shows what a mountain the NHS has to climb to get on top of the immense backlog of planned operations.

‘It is also of critical importance that patients continue to come forward to their GPs for referral if they are unwell; early detection of disease always makes for more effective treatment.’

Leading think-tanks said it was time for NHS officials ‘to be honest with patients and the public’ about the state of services. Others said the figures suggested the attempts to catch up with treatments for non-Covid patients had ‘hit a wall’.

Some 169,660 urgent cancer referrals were made by GPs in England in August 2020, down from 200,317 in August 2019 – a fall of 15 per cent. This compares with a year-on-year drop of 19 per cent in July, 21 per cent in June and 47 per cent in May.

Urgent breast cancer referrals were down from 13,220 in August 2019 to 9,498 in August 2020, a fall of 28 per cent.

Yesterday’s figures coincide with the launch of a major campaign to avoid thousands of non-Covid deaths. NHS England has enlisted the help of chef Gordon Ramsay and actress Emma Thompson to urge people not to ignore cancer warning signs.

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