Department of Health slammed by stats watchdog for 'misleading' NHS waits claim

28 January 2024 , 07:09

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Rishi Sunak is flailing in his attempts to slash NHS waits (Image: Getty Images)

The Department of Health has been criticised by the statistics watchdog for making "potentially misleading" claims about NHS waiting times.

Ed Humpherson, head of the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR), took issue with a statement made to the Times earlier this month, where the department claimed "we have cut the total waiting list and the number of individual patients waiting for treatment". It came after more than 74,000 people, including Stephen Fry, Jo Brand and Michael Rosen, signed a 38Degrees letter demanding an emergency plan to cut record waiting lists.

Official figures at the time showed that the number of patients waiting for treatment fell between September and October 2023 fell from 6.5 million to 6.44 million. The number of outstanding procedures fell from 7.77 million to 7.71 million.

But the numbers were still much higher than when Rishi Sunak made a pledge to cut NHS waits in January 2023 - when 6.06 million patients were waiting for 7.20 million procedures.

Data from NHS England shows waits for treatment from November 2022 to November 2023

In a letter responding to a complaint about the claim, Mr Humpherson said: "It would better support understanding if DHSC had been clear on what time period it was referring to avoid potentially misleading people. This is particularly important where the fuller time series of waiting lists data, as shown in the chart below, show an upward trend in waiting lists over the last year and could therefore be perceived as selectivity of data."

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Veronica Hawking, Head of Campaigns at 38 Degrees, said: “There are hundreds of thousands more patients on NHS waiting lists since the PM made that promise, but instead of owning up to that, the DHSC tried to paper over the cracks by pointing to tiny recent falls. A government spokesperson claimed to have “cut the total waiting list” - even though, at the time, all they had was a single month where the backlog fell from 6.5 million patients to 6.44 million.

"That’s still hundreds of thousands more people waiting, scared and sick, for care." She added: "Spin doctors won’t bring the waiting lists down, the NHS doctors, nurses, and other staff are the ones who need government investment."

Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting said: "Having failed to cut NHS waiting lists, all the Conservatives have left are these pathetic attempts to hide the truth. People aren’t stupid, they know the NHS is broken- they see it with their own eyes. The NHS needs solutions not spin. Labour will pay staff extra to deliver 2 million more appointments on evenings and weekends, paid for by abolishing the non-dom tax status.”

The Department of Health was contacted for comment.

Lizzy Buchan