The official government figures show a 56.7% increase in people waiting over 6 weeks for an appointment for diagnosis from July to August. and in case you were wondering if it was a seasonal variation, that’s also a 46.7% increase from August last year. The proportion of those waiting who had been waiting less than 6 weeks has fallen.
Now I hope that’s a blip but after years of waiting lists falling what has changed? (yes I know a Labour to a Conservative government, but it’s hard to see a direct causation there – yet!). The only big thing so far is the abolition of targets. At the time the Conservatives claimed this would free doctors to serve patients better. Waiting for longer for diagnosis isn’t better service in my view.
We’ll see, but this does not bode well for Conservative plans for the NHS in general.
