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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Nicola Davis, Rachel Obordo and Carmen Aguilar García

‘Huge human and economic toll’: one in seven people in England waiting for NHS treatment

NHS Sophie England Louisa ​​Rishi Sunak Surgery NHS England
Flora Renz, who uses a wheelchair, was put on the waiting list for hip surgery in November 2022 but her surgeon has left the NHS trust, and has not been replaced
Flora Renz was put on the waiting list for hip surgery in November 2022 but her surgeon has left the NHS trust and has not been replaced. Photograph: Dimitris Legakis/Athena/The Guardian

Prolapsed organs, bouts of paralysis and an unexplored heart problem: these are among the conditions patients in the UK are being left to endure as a result of ballooning NHS waiting lists.

More than 7.6 million cases in England – related to 6.37m patients – were on the waiting list in December, latest NHS England data shows, with two in five of them (3.3m) waiting for more than four months and one in 20 (337,450) having to wait longer than a year.

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