Responding to the latest NHS England waiting list data, Patricia Marquis, Executive Director of RCN England, said:
“More than a year since the pledge was made to cut waiting lists, millions of patients are still suffering in pain and distress. Whichever way you count the numbers, the prime minister’s promise is colliding with the reality of an understaffed and under-resourced NHS. This is far from ‘mission accomplished’.
“Bringing down waiting lists is impossible without nursing staff who deliver the vast majority of care but we are short of tens of thousands. A late pay award this year and the lowest in the public sector last year has damaged recruitment and retention and undermined the ability of the NHS to safely care for patients.
“Public satisfaction with the NHS is at an all-time low and behind this is a long-term failure to invest in our profession. Rather than patting itself on the back, the government must produce a fair pay offer for nursing. That’s how to stabilise the workforce and bring down waiting lists."
Ends
Notes to Editors
Figures from show an estimated 7.54 million treatments were waiting to be carried out at the end of February, relating to 6.29 million patients. When the prime minister made his pledge to cut the waiting lists 6.08 million patients were waiting for care.
The latest figures show 305,050 patients waiting for more than a year.
