Patients waiting more than a year for hospital treatment at highest level since 2008
Urgent cancer referrals, A&E attendances, and diagnostic tests were also below what they were last year.
Thursday 10 December 2020 11:08, UK
The number of people waiting more than a year to start hospital treatment in England in October was higher than any month since 2008, figures show.
There were 162,888 people still yet to start treatment after a year of waiting in October this year - the highest number since May 2008.
A year earlier, the number having to wait more than 52 weeks stood at just 1,321.
As well as the number of urgent cancer referrals and key diagnostic tests done, NHS England stats also show A&E admissions down 31% on the previous year.
A total of 1.5 million people went to A&E in November this year - down from 2.1 million in November 2019.
Emergency visits to A&E were also down - by 19% from 559,556 last year, to 451,800 this year.
NHS England said this is likely to be a consequence of the coronavirus pandemic, as - despite pleas from health bosses and government ministers - people are still staying away from hospital because of the virus.
It was the biggest drop in overall A&E attendances in recent months, compared with a 26% year-on-year fall in October, 20% in September and 19% in August.
The lower November figures coincide with England's nationwide lockdown, which ended on 2 December.
The NHS England data also shows the number of urgent cancer referrals down by 8% - from 220,304 in October 2019 to 203,704 in October this year.
This compares with a year-on-year rise of 2% in September and falls of 15% in August and 19% in July.
For breast cancer urgent referrals in particular, the annual drop was greater - falling 25% from 16,232 in October last year to 12,148 for the same month this year.
Figures for October reveal there were 350,000 people waiting more than six weeks - the NHS target - for a key diagnostic test - compared to just 33,200 in October 2019.