NHS waiting lists up 45% since May 2010

By Charlotte Beugge

Patients are having to join even longer waiting lists to be referred for inpatient treatment, according to figures from the Department of Health.

Before the coalition government came to power in May 2010, 20,662 patients referred for treatment in hospital had to wait longer than the recommended time. But by November last year that had reached 29,508 - an increase of 8,846, or 42.8%, according to the Daily Telegraph.

It says that a third of hospital trusts across England (47) are failing to meet the goal of 90% of their inpatients being seen within 18 weeks of being referred by a GP - almost four times as many trusts as in the middle of 2010.

Andy Burnham, the shadow health secretary, said that his party had predicted this would happen when the government relaxed the waiting time targets.

He told the paper: "Sadly, things will get even worse if the prime minister succeeds in allowing hospitals to fill 49% of NHS hospital beds with private patients."

The Department of Health said 100,000 more people were treated by the NHS in November 2011 than in May 2010 and the health minister Simon Burns said average waits had fallen from 8.4 to 8.1 weeks and the number waiting more than a year had halved.

You can take out private medical insurance which gets you a quick referral to a private specialist but then if inpatient treatment is needed, you can revert to the NHS. Such plans are cheaper than fully comprehensive plans.