Whittington Health Trust: all the key numbers for the NHS Trust in September

Almost 20,000 patients were waiting for routine treatment at Whittington Health Trust in September, figures show.

The King's Fund, a healthcare think tank, said NHS services are already in crisis and warned new Prime Minister Rishi Sunak that the situation is likely to worsen if budgets are cut.

NHS England figures show 19,324 patients were waiting for non-urgent elective operations or treatment at Whittington Health NHS Trust at the end of September – down slightly from 19,347 in August, but an increase on 16,493 in September 2021.

Of those, 549 (3%) had been waiting for longer than a year.

The median waiting time from referral at an NHS Trust to treatment at Whittington Health Trust was 11 weeks at the end of September – the same as in August.

Nationally, 7.1 million people were waiting to start treatment at the end of September – a new record.

Siva Anandaciva, chief analyst at the King's Fund, said the Government's fiscal statement, due on November 17, will have a "profound impact on the quality and accessibility of health and care services".

"If NHS budgets keep being eroded by inflation, it is hard to see how ambitious government targets to reduce hospital waiting lists can possibly be achieved," Mr Anandaciva added.

"History has shown us that attempts to protect core NHS budgets at the expense of wider spending on social care, illness prevention and capital investment are short-sighted and can lead to greater pressure on services further down the line"

Separate figures show 1.6 million patients in England were waiting for a key diagnostic test in September – a rise on 1.5 million in August.

At Whittington Health Trust, 5,338 patients were waiting for one of 12 standard tests, such as an MRI scan, non-obstetric ultrasound or gastroscopy at this time.

Of them, 855 (16%) had been waiting for at least six weeks.

Dr Tim Cooksley, president of the Society for Acute Medicine, said the figures show "standards are at an unacceptably poor level" that will deteriorate during the winter and that pressure to deliver care is at an unsustainable level.

Other figures from NHS England show that of 31 patients urgently referred by their GP who were treated at Whittington Health Trust in September, 11 were receiving cancer treatment within two months of their referral.

A month previously – when 40 patients were referred – 20 were treated within 62 days.

In September 2021, 25 patients were treated within this period, out of 39 that were referred.

NHS medical director Professor Sir Stephen Powis said: "There is no doubt October has been a challenging month for staff, who are now facing a tripledemic of Covid, flu and record pressure on emergency services with more people attending A&E or requiring the most urgent ambulance callout than any other October.

He said pressure on emergency services remains high due to a shortage of hospital beds, but that "staff have kept their foot on the accelerator to get the backlog down".

"We have always said the overall waiting list would rise as more patients come forward, and, with pressures on staff set to increase over the winter months, the NHS has a plan – including a new falls service, 24/7 war rooms, and extra beds and call handlers," he said.