04/08/2014

NHS 'Ordered' To Tackle Non-Emergency Waiting List

NHS patients who have endured long waits for routine operations must be prioritised, ministers have said.

Ministers say that some 65,000 people have been waiting for more than six months, and around 500 have been waiting for longer than a year.

They have ordered the NHS in England that 100,000 procedures should be carried out over the summer to reduce the backlog of waiting patients, with priority given to those who have waited longest.

Ministers said that while this would result in a longer wait for some patients, it was necessary to try and clear more "complex and difficult" cases, as they tend to be the type that have the longest waits.

Current targets state that the NHS should see 90% of patients who need non-emergency operations within 18 weeks.

(MH/CD)

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