The health secretary has admitted that National Health Service (NHS) waiting lists could rise to 13 million in the next few months due to lockdowns and the Chinese coronavirus pandemic.
The revelation comes just days after it was revealed that NHS England waiting lists had reached a record high for the second month in a row, with 5.3 million people waiting for treatment.
In an interview with The Telegraph, the newly-appointed health secretary, Sajid Javid, admitted his department had estimated that in the next few months, that figure could more than double. Just last week, the health secretary claimed that around seven million people normally expected to have sought treatment for health problems, including possible cancer and heart disease and mental health issues, did not do so during the pandemic.
Mr Javid told the newspaper: “What shocked me the most is when I was told that the waiting list is going to get a lot worse before it gets better. It’s gone up from 3.5 million to 5.3 million as of today, and I said to the officials: ‘so what do you mean [by] a lot worse’, thinking maybe it goes from 5.3 to six million, seven million.
“They said no, it’s going to go up by millions… it could go as high as 13 million.
“Hearing that figure of 13 million, it has absolutely totally focused my mind, and it’s going to be one of my top priorities to deal with because we can’t have that.”- READ MORE
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