Andrew Gwynne, MP for Denton and Reddish and Shadow Public Health Minister, has slammed the Government after recent figures released by the NHS highlighted the incredibly concerning waiting lists at NHS trusts throughout the country, including in Stockport and Tameside.
The figures show that at the end of October 2021:
- at Tameside and Glossop Integrated Care NHS trust, 18,657 were on the waiting list for an NHS appointment. 1021 people had been waiting for more than a year for an appointment, and 73 had been waiting for more than two years.
- At Stockport NHS Foundation Trust, there was 36,912 people on the waiting list. 3,726 people had been waiting more than a year for an appointment, and 98 people had been waiting for more than two years.
In March 2020, at the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, there were 4,235,970 people on the NHS waiting list in England, a then record high. Nationally, the standard of 92% of people seen within 18 weeks of a referral has not been met since 2016. Now, over 1 in 10 people in England are on the NHS waiting list.
The Conservative Government has no plan to deal with the chronic shortage of GPs, doctors, nurses and social care staff, and has not set clear targets to reduce waiting lists and waiting times. Hospitals around the country are reporting unsustainable pressure and an inability to provide high quality care.
Commenting on the figures, Andrew Gwynne said:
“These figures are absolutely shocking. People across Denton and Reddish are being forced to wait months and even years for treatment, often in pain and discomfort.
Staff at Tameside and Glossop Integrated Care NHS Trust and Stockport NHS Foundation Trust are working around the clock, and doing everything they can to try and get people seen as quickly as possible. The problem is, they are stretched like never after ten years of Conservative mismanagement and neglect.
The Government urgently needs to get a grip on this problem. People across the country deserve to be seen on time, and be provided with quality care.”
Wes Streeting MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, said:
“One in every ten people in England are on NHS waiting lists today and the situation is set to get even worse, despite the Tories’ unfair tax rises on working people. Under the Tories we’re paying more and getting less.
“The NHS went into the pandemic with waiting lists at record levels, staff shortages of 100,000 in the health service and 112,000 social care vacancies thanks to a decade of Conservative mismanagement.
“We need a plan to address the staffing shortages in health and social care service, to ensure the timely and quality care that patients deserve.”
Above: A graph illustrating the massive increase in NHS waiting times since the Conservatives came into power.