According to the most recent data, tens of thousands of patients were waiting for standard care at Milton Keynes University Hospital the waiting list for non-urgent elective procedures or treatment at the end of May, according to NHS England data. This is a modest increase from 36,933 patients in April but a reduction from 38,999 patients in May 2023.
4,412 (12%) of them had been on the waiting list for more than a year.
By the end of May, the median wait time from hospital treatment referral at an NHS Trust had increased to 25 weeks from 24 weeks in April.
By the end of May, 7.6 million people nationwide were on the waiting list for treatment. This marked the first increase on the NHS waiting list in seven months and was up marginally from 7.57 million at the end of March.
Wes Streeting, the health secretary, has begun an investigation into the state of the health service.
“Anyone who works in or uses the NHS can see that it’s broken,” he declared.
“We are not searching for an excuse, in contrast to the previous administration. I won’t hold it against NHS employees—they give their all for their patients—in any way.
“This Government is going to be honest about the challenges and serious about solving them.”
According to unreleased data, there were 1.7 million patients in England waiting for a critical diagnostic test in May, up from 1.6 million in April.
Currently, 12,350 patients at Milton Keynes University Hospital were in queue for one of 12 common tests, which included an MRI, a non-obstetric ultrasound, or a gastroscopy.
5,499 (45%) of them had been waiting for a minimum of six weeks.
Additional data indicates that the hospital’s cancer patients are not receiving enough attention.
According to the NHS, 62 days should pass before 85% of cancer patients receiving an urgent referral begin therapy.
Only 66% of MK cancer patients who were urgently sent to the hospital in May, however, started treatment within two months of the referral, according to NHS England data.
That was an increase from the 63% in May 2023 and the 63% in April.
Sarah Scobie, Nuffield Trust deputy director of research, described the NHS’s task as a “huge uphill battle”.
“Fixing it will mean addressing the structural vulnerabilities which left the NHS in a weak position going into the pandemic,” she stated.
She stated that this will involve “underinvestment in buildings and equipment and improving funding flows to out-of-hospital services like GPs and district nursing” .
“Frontline teams are continuing to work exceptionally hard under significant pressure to provide the best care they can for patients, but everyone recognises that access and waiting times are currently far from what the public have a right to expect,” stated NHS national medical director Professor Sir Stephen Powis.
“Despite the difficulties, it’s critical that individuals speak up when they have health concerns. A lot of work is being done to identify cancer in a more early stage, so if you do have concerning symptoms, you should contact your general practitioner right away.
“Everyone working in the health service is committed to working with the government, and with patients and the public, to tackle these challenges, to improve performance and quality in core services, and in the longer term to build an NHS fit for the future.”
