For thousands of people in this country, a corrective operation is the best way to relieve debilitating pain and get them back up on their feet, back to work and enjoying life again. When we eventually emerge from this crisis, we will need sustained investment to treat all those who have been waiting patiently for treatment.
Some 1.42 million patients on the list had been waiting for longer than the target of 18 weeks from referral to treatment.
Almost 223,000 were admitted for routine hospital treatment in November, down 27 per cent from 303,000 in the same month a year previously.
Dr Nick Scriven, immediate past president of the Society for Acute Medicine, said: This data shows exactly how dire things are with millions of people waiting to start hospital treatment and 330,000 people waiting more than six weeks for key diagnostic tests.
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There are currently about 6,000 people on the UK transplant waiting list (Getty/iStock)
Patients are missing out on potentially life-saving organ transplant surgery because hospital intensive care beds are filled by coronavirus patients,
The Independent has learnt.
Major organ transplant centres in London, as well as the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham and Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge, have been forced to close their doors to transplant cases because of a lack of beds, the increased risk to patients, and the need to redeploy doctors and nurses to the coronavirus front line.
Hospitals across England had more than 32,600 Covid-19 patients on Wednesday, with NHS bosses warning that the numbers could continue to rise in some areas until the end of the month. A record 1,564 deaths linked to the coronavirus were reported on Wednesday, and 47,525 new infections.