manchester, nonurgent surgery is being halted. ithank manchester, nonurgent surgery is being halted. i thank those trusts who have come forward and been upfront about the reality that they are facing and our nhs staff who are going above and beyond once again to get us through this period. isn t it time for the prime minister to be straight with people and give a frank assessment of the state of our nhs? he mentions the use of the army but how many trusts have declared a critical incident and what does the prime minister planned to do about it? people in the north east are being told to call a cab or phone a friend if they are suffering a suspected heart attack or stroke. that is shocking, mr speaker. but even before 0micron hit, thousands of suspected heart attack and stroke victims in england were forced to wait over one hour and 40 minutes for their ambulance. wait over one hour and 40 minutes fortheirambulance. isn t the wait over one hour and 40 minutes for their ambulance. isn t
since records began in 2010. 0ur health correspondent katharine da costa gave me this update. 6 million people were waiting for operations, these might be things like hip and knee operations, cataract removal, hernia, and while not deemed urgent operations, many of these people will be waiting in pain and discomfort, feeling fairly isolated and in distress in some cases. so that s one in nine people in england waiting for operations. and nearly 307,000 people were waiting over a year. a lot of work has been trying to reduce those figures, but that still won in 20 people waiting than 12 months. these figures are for november, so that s even before 0micron hit, so the chances are we are likely to see that rise even further next month s figures. if you look at a&e, the gateway entrance to hospitals, nearly 1.9 people attended a&e departments in england in december. 73% were seen within four hours. the target is 95%.
and there aren t the packages. although there is this big push to try to discharge patients and free up try to discharge patients and free up beds and improve flow into the hospitals, there is the sort of pinch point. across the nhs staff absences, not much change overall week on week, staying about the same, but it is different regionally. so in london things have been getting a little bit better. they were hit by 0micron a little bit earlier so staff absences are falling a little bit there, but the north west, for example, it is increasing up there, they are a little bit behind london, and things are getting a bit worse. so the overall picture is not a rapid deterioration, but things are gradually getting worse. the nhs is struggling. it is important to remember that when we talk about risks of the nhs being overwhelmed, it is not going to collapse overnight, but what happens is it is slowly deteriorating over time. chances are we are likely to see things get worse before they get
waiting for operations, these might be things like hip and knee operations, cataract removal, hernia, and while not deemed urgent operations, many of these people will be waiting in pain and discomfort, feeling fairly isolated and in distress in some cases. so that s one in nine people in england waiting for operations. and nearly 307,000 people were waiting over a year. a lot of work has been trying to reduce those figures, but that still won in 20 people waiting than 12 months. these figures are for november, so that s even before 0micron hit, so the chances are we are likely to see that rise even further next month s figures. if you look at a&e, the gateway entrance to hospitals, nearly1.9 look at a&e, the gateway entrance to hospitals, nearly 1.9 people attended a&e departments in england in december. 73% were seen within four hours. the target is 95%. now, thatis four hours. the target is 95%. now, that is a new record low, but it is only marginally worse than the
health officials say on average, one person with covid is now spreading it to between three and five other people. the uk s latest covid figures show there were 88,376 new cases in the latest 24 hour period. the average over the past week is now more than 63 thousand new cases every day. the number of people in hospital with covid is 7,579. 146 deaths were recorded, that s of people who died within 28 days of a positive test. 115 covid related deaths were recorded on average every day in the past week. 0n vaccinations just over 537 thousand people a day had boosters on average in the past 7 days. bringing the total to more than 25 point 4 million people. london is currently being hit hardest by the wave of new infections.