Nearly half a million people are still waiting for treatment, almost 30,000 of them for over a year.
But there is hope as waiting lists are falling in the region. There were a total of 497,015 people on the waiting lists at trusts in our city-region in June, according to the latest data.
That’s down from 498,079 people in May and 523,488 people the same time last year. It’s still more than double the 236,647 people in February 2019 though, just before the Covid-19 pandemic.
Some 27,688 people on waiting lists in Greater Manchester have been on there for over a year.
More than four out of every 10 of patients going to major type 1 accident and emergency wards in Greater Manchester during July faced waits of over four hours between arrival and either admission, transfer or discharge.
In Bolton, 46.9% of patients had to wait in A&E for over four hours last month. In Tameside it was 46.2%, at the Northern Care Alliance – which runs Salford Royal Hospital, Fairfield General Hospital, Rochdale Infirmary and the Royal Oldham Hospital, it was 44.2%, in Stockport it was 42.5%, and across Manchester and Trafford hospitals it was 42%.
All five trusts had worse records than England as a whole, with 38.6% of patients having to wait more than four hours in A&E.
NHS bosses have warned that this could be the busiest summer on record for the health service. Professor Sir Stephen Powis, NHS National Medical Director said: A&E staff are under significant pressure and the NHS is in the middle of what could be its busiest summer ever, with a total of 4.6 million attendances in the last two months alone and 2024 now having seen the three busiest months for A&E on record.
While we have seen improvements in the number of patients seen and treated within four hours in A&E, slightly faster ambulance response times, and more than three quarters of cancer patients receiving an all clear or diagnosis in four weeks, it is clear that waits for patients across a range of services remain unacceptable and there is much more to do to deliver more timely care for those who need it.
Nobody in the NHS wants to see patients experiencing long delays and we are committed to working with the government to create a 10-year plan for health that includes a clear plan to bring waits down. In the meantime, staff continue to work incredibly hard to deliver the best possible care for patients, and it is vital that people continue to come forward when they have health concerns.
