The NHS is facing its highest waiting lists in history. The barriers to providing treatment have been there for years. And now, with so many reasons combined, like lack of workforce and demand for services growing, they have intensified recently. 

Currently, the average waiting time is 14.4 weeks, but it depends on what speciality we’re discussing. For example, the number of women waiting for gynaecology appointments could fill Wembley Stadium 3 times.

Read on to learn why waiting times are longer than ever.

The Pandemic’s Role in Exacerbating Waiting Times

Yes, it has been years, but we can still blame the pandemic.

The NHS was in a difficult situation even before the pandemic. Millions of patients were waiting for consultant treatment—4.57 million patients in February 2020.

With the onset of the pandemic, there came an order where elective treatments should be postponed, and all forces should be concentrated on emergency care and COVID treatment only. That had a knock-on effect for years, and by September 2024, this number increased even further, reaching an unexpected figure of 10.78 million, and out of those, around 8 million were due to COVID and other patients waiting for treatment.

Then there’s the “hidden backlog,” which is made up of patients who need care but have not gone for a referral owing to fears of placing a strain on the system and fear of the infection.

Of the patients who did seek care, it was noted that over 249,300 patients have been awaiting treatment for over a year, which is a marked barbaric change since May 2014, when the number was only 776.

Waiting Times for Surgical Procedures

Surgical procedures, and even more so focused ones, particularly trauma and orthopaedic surgeons and their services, have all faced the brunt.

As of May 2024, trauma and only trauma and orthopaedics exceed 800,000 patients on the waiting list and have become the most overburdened specialities. The median waiting time for all surgical procedures has risen to 14.4 weeks, which is close to double the time of 8.0 weeks, recorded in 2019.

Delays in treatment for conditions like arthritis, hip replacement, and cataract surgery have serious ramifications. And it’s not like the equipment and specialists aren’t there. The NHS uses top-of-the-range equipment like the self-retaining retractor for surgery, robotics, and AI technology, and there are thousands of qualified surgeons. The issue is the backlog.

Patients are left enduring agony or an inability to move around and perform day-to-day chores, turning to therapy instead, which sometimes makes it worse.

Emergency Care Delays

Emergency departments are always overwhelmed, especially in winter.

In October 2024, there were 2,360,000 attendances to A&E, of which only 73% of respiratory patients were seen within the four-hour target time, way below the operational target set at 78%. Most worryingly, the figure of patients undergoing admission for over 12 hours reached around 49,600 in September 2024. Only around 900 patients waited for more than 12 hours in October 2019.

Approximately 90% of the general and acute hospitals are almost full, which is terrible, as A&E patients must wait for someone to give up their bed. Again, it’s a backlog issue.

There seem to be no improvements in patient flows with those who are well enough to leave the hospital.

The NHS has a massive task if it wants to reduce waiting times. It feels like it’s almost at the point of no return, and patients are suffering.