Are NHS waiting lists coming down? A simple yes/no question it would seem.
NHS England claimed last month that"hard working staff" had delivered "record numbers of treatments" with waiting lists falling by 260,000 since Labour was elected.
But there are two things going on here.
According to reserach by the Nuffield Trust and the Health Foundation the NHS is still treating fewer patients than are joining this waiting lists. So the trend remains upwards.
So why has the waiting list total come down? It seems hospitals have got round to validating the list by removing those who have had private treatment, left the country or died. Nothing unusual in that, they should be maintaining the list. But they are doing it because they're getting paid to do what should be their job anyway. NHS England, as part of its recovery plan, is paying hospitals £33 for each patient removed from the waiting list. Since the NHS doesn't spell out what the reasons are for taking people off the list, there is a lack of transparency.
I am left wondering why on earth hospitals have to be bribed to do part of their job. Personally I'd suggest a "negative bonus" for the managers responsible for not doing their jobs if there isn't eveidence of waiting list maintenance would work just as well.
What is clear is that public statements by the NHS and health ministers on the waiting list issue should be taken with a large pinch of salt.
What is worrying is that they must know they are, at best, dissembling. Or maybe I should just say lying?
Waiting lists being cut for £33 a patient. Sunday Times 17 August 2025
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