1 week Ago By David Williamson
The NHS is beating its own targets to get waiting lists down, the Government has boasted as efforts to continue to get the long-term sick back into work. The Department for Health and Social Care says three million additional appointments have been delivered six months early with waiting lists falling by 219,000 since July. Community Diagnostic Centres – many of which are located on high streets for easy access – carried out around 4.
5million tests, checks and scans. This is a 50% increase on the previous year and “equates to 18,000 more checks being delivered every day for patients to diagnose some of the biggest killers, including cancer and heart disease”. Increasing numbers of CDCs open 12 hours a day, seven days a week.
This comes along special efforts to get people off waiting lists and into work in deprived areas. Karin Smyth, the minister for elective care, said: “This Government made a promise to the British public to reverse more than a decade of soaring waiting times and poor access to patient care – and through our plan for change, we are starting to turn the tide across every part of the country – with our crack teams already having a transformative impact. “This is a long road, but with tens of thousands more patients getting care that works for them and waiting lists falling faster in areas of high joblessness, we are getting the NHS back on its feet so it delivers for patients once again.
“This is only the start. From bringing patient care closer to home, to ending the 8am scramble for a GP appointment, this Government is determined to transform our NHS to make it fit for the future.” But a Reform UK spokesman said bringing down immigration is key to tackling waiting lists.
He said: “In the last 10 years 7.2 million foreign-born people have registered in GP practices. The population explosion has meant the NHS struggles to function at any level.
“Waiting lists are still sky high and it’s time Labour dealt with the root cause of why this is – immigration and bureaucracy.” However, Pat McFadden, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, said: “[We] are getting on with the job of rebuilding our country and improving the public services we all rely on. It’s already making a difference in people’s lives as we put police back on the beat, get more teachers in classrooms, and this week launched free breakfast clubs in hundreds of schools.
“The latest data shows our approach is delivering real change, with tens of thousands more patients getting the right care and waiting lists falling faster in areas where there are higher numbers of people out of work. And this is just the start.” Ed Argar, the Shadow Health Secretary, said that “Conservative innovations” were delivering results - highlighting “100 surgical hubs and 160 community diagnostic centres”.
He said: “Labour’s Jobs Tax will divert money away from frontline public services as pharmacies, hospices, dentists and GPs struggle to absorb the costs.”.
