Twelve-hour A&E waits are at a record high. Doctors fear that tens of thousands will die because of delays in treatment. Already some 10,000 people have waited more than three months for urgent cancer treatment, a consequence of turning the NHS into the national Covid-but-nothing-else-service during lockdown.
Excess deaths at home, the number of people dying above the five-year average, is nearly 17,000 in England and Wales. Meanwhile, fewer people seem to be dying in hospital. That suggests many patients aren’t even getting proper medical attention.
We’re used to hearing about NHS crises in winter, but winter now seems to be all year round. The extra cash pumped in by the tories – a 17 per cent increase in real terms since the start of the pandemic – is showing limited effect. But what about the other metrics in today’s NHS data release:
1. A&E activity has fallen
Some 2.1 million people attended A&E last month, 20,000 fewer than June and about where it was for most of 2019.
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