‘Sadly for many the NHS is no longer there when they need it’-Local NHS waiting lists hit record high 63,000.

Dagenham and Rainham MP Jon Cruddas and Labour Prospective Parliamentary Candidate Margaret Mullane, have hit out at the record high NHS waiting list locally despite the Prime Minister pledging to reduce the high numbers waiting to be seen.

63,076 people are waiting for treatment across Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospital Trust (BHRUT), according to figures published last week by the NHS.

Of those waiting, a total of 1,296 have been waiting longer than a year. The NHS target is for patients to wait no longer than 18 weeks for hospital treatment, but 37% of patients on waiting lists locally are waiting longer than that.

The number of people waiting for treatment across England has increased every single month since Rishi Sunak pledged to cut NHS waiting lists. Since he became Prime Minister, waiting lists have grown by 724,000 patients. 

Mr Cruddas told the Havering Daily: “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.”

Labour has 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. The health service will also focus more on providing healthcare in the community and make greater use of modern technology, so problems are caught earlier when it is simpler to treat patients and cheaper for the taxpayer.

Margaret Mullane, Labour’s Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Dagenham and Rainham at the next election has been a strong advocate of the NHS, visiting Queen’s Hospital recently to meet with the Directors of the Trust. 

Margaret 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.

“Only Labour, the party of the NHS, will get local health services back on their feet. As part of a Labour government, I would ensure that when we begin the biggest recruitment drive in NHS history, Queen’s Hospital, GP surgeries, and community services in our area are at the front of the queue for additional doctors and nurses.”

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