Plans to tackle the record waiting list for NHS treatment could be derailed by emergency care demands and a lack of staff, MPs have warned.
The backlog of patients waiting for planned care in England has soared to nearly six million as the number of 999 calls and A&E waiting times have both hit record highs.
In its new report, the cross-party Health and Social Care Committee said that tackling the wider backlog caused by the pandemic is a major and “unquantifiable” challenge as it includes all the people who have yet to come forward for care.
It calls for a broad national health and care recovery plan embracing emergency care, mental health, GPs, community care and social care.
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MPs said NHS staff are under pressure and could quit unless they see “light at the end of the tunnel” in the form of more staff to help them deal with the pressures on the health service.
The report said: “Now, as we approach a third year living with COVID, the catastrophic impact on patients waiting for NHS care is becoming clearer.
“Of the 5.8 million patients waiting to start treatment in September 2021, 300,000 have been waiting more than a year and 12,000 more than two years.”
While MPs welcomed Government funding to create an extra nine million checks, scans and operations, they said NHS England has yet to publish its plan on “how it plans to meet its workforce requirements”, despite this being promised by Health Secretary Sajid Javid by the end of November 2021.
Former health secretary Jeremy Hunt. File pic
Committee chairman and Conservative MP Jeremy Hunt said: “Our report finds that the government’s recovery plans risk being…
Source : skynews
