More than 63,000 on NHS waiting lists across Barking, Havering & Redbridge

Local NHS waiting list figures were published last week (credit: Google Maps)

More than 63,000 people are waiting for treatment on waiting lists across Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospital Trust.

New figures published by the NHS last week show that of those waiting, more than 2% have been waiting longer than a year.

The NHS target is for patients to wait no longer than 18 weeks for hospital treatment. The figures reveal that 37% of patients on waiting lists locally are waiting longer than that.

That’s despite the Prime Ministers pledge to reduce numbers, with waiting lists having increased every month since then. Since Rishi Sunak became Prime Minister, waiting lists have grown by 724,000 patients.

Jon Cruddas MP and Margaret Mullane, Labour’s Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Dagenham & Rainham

Jon Cruddas MP commented: “Sadly for thousands of local people the NHS is no longer there when they need it. Whether it is waiting for an operation, ambulance or in the Emergency Department.

“Conservative inaction and their backdoor privatisation has undermined the fabric of the service, leaving staff overstretched and under resourced struggling to meet local needs.”

Margaret Mullane, Labour’s Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Dagenham & Rainham at the next election said: “It is abundantly clear that the Tories have no answers when it comes to our NHS, 13 years of Conservative inaction has tarnished the family silver leaving millions of people waiting in corridors or in agony at home. It isn’t good enough.”

Labour has announced plans to cut waiting times and ensure that the target of treatment within 18 weeks is met once again. The party is pledging to oversee the biggest expansion of NHS staff in history, training thousands more doctors and nurses a year.

For more on this story, and the latest on our other local and national news, listen to Time 107.5FM