In total, 510,000 people are waiting for ENT operations, procedures or medical consultations on the health service, compared with 312,000 in March 2020, according to the review of NHS figures carried out by the Nuffield Trust for the Guardian.
Year-long ENT waits have risen even more sharply, the analysis shows. In March 2020, 258 patients had been waiting more than 52 weeks. By April 2022, the most recent month for which figures are available, the figure had risen by 14,000% to 37,548 patients, and 1,730 have now been waiting more than two years.
Downing Street has so far declined to confirm whether Johnson skipped the NHS waiting lists to have his operation on Monday morning. His spokesperson said they would not give any more detail in response to questioning over whether he got preferential treatment.
Johnson’s spokesperson confirmed that the operation took place on the NHS, and would only say it had been scheduled “for a while”. Whatever the circumstances, his surgery has refocused attention on the colossal number of people waiting for NHS treatment, which has swelled to a record high of 6.5 million.
The analysis sheds fresh light on the plight of patients waiting for ENT operations. In London, where the prime minister underwent surgery after 6am on Monday at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS foundation trust, more than 72,000 people are waiting for ENT operations or medical care. Of those, 3,444 have been waiting more than a year.
BJ’s spokesperson’s reluctance to provide detail onl serves to increase suspicion that preferential treatment for the PM was, indeed, provided.