The NHS is facing a difficult summer as overall waiting lists climb for a third month in a row. NHS England figures show 101,182 patients were waiting for non-urgent elective operations or treatment at Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust at the end of June – up slightly from 100,825 in May, and 93,338 in June 2023. Advertisement Advertisement Did you know with an ad-lite subscription to Luton Today, you get 70% fewer ads while viewing the news that matters to you.
Of those, 5,414 (5%) had been waiting for longer than a year. The median waiting time from referral at an NHS Trust to treatment at Bedfordshire Hospitals Trust – which runs Bedford Hospital and Luton & Dunstable Hospital – was 16 weeks at the end of June; the same as in May. Nationally, 7.
62 million people were waiting to start treatment at the end of June. This was up slightly from 7.6 million at the end of March and a third consecutive rise.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting said: "These figures confirm that 14 years of Conservative neglect left the NHS broken, waiting lists rising, and patients failed. Never again should the Conservatives be trusted with our health service. Advertisement Advertisement "It will take time to turn the NHS around.
But we are working night and day to get the NHS back on its feet, so it can once again be there for us all when we need it." Separate figures show 1.6 million patients in England were waiting for a key diagnostic test in June – a fall from 1.
7 million in May. .