NHS crisis: ‘117,000 waiting list deaths’ amid surgery delays

<p>An estimated 117,000 people have died while on NHS waiting lists as the devastating knock-on effect of Covid-19’s many waves on hospitals is revealed.</p><p>Now the treatment backlog stands at 6.5 million people, as coronavirus rates spike and the health service struggles with staffing problems.</p><p>It came as Wes Streeting, Labour MP for Ilford North and shadow health secretary, returned to Hampstead’s Royal Free Hospital to thank medics who spotted a cancerous tumour during a routine kidney scan.</p><p>To make sense of the shocking new death rate figures, revealed in Freedom of Information requests by Labour, we’re joined by Evening Standard health editor Ross Lydall.</p><p>We discuss how London’s waiting times compare to the trusts elsewhere in the country, and which surgical specialisms have been hardest hit.</p><p>At the same time, former Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt’s been speaking about how his government prepared for the wrong sort of pandemic.</p><p>The Department of Health and Social Care called the data “deeply misleading” and said the deaths “may be completely unrelated” to the treatment for which the patient was waiting.</p><p><br></p><br /><hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for privacy and opt-out information.</p>