Has Rishi Sunak met his NHS waiting lists pledge in the Black Country? New numbers reveal the answer
The number of patients waiting for routine treatment at Black Country hospitals has grown by more than 22,000 in a year, despite a pledge by the prime minister that NHS waiting lists would fall.
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In January last year, Rishi Sunak made five pledges to the British public – including a promise that "NHS waiting lists will fall and people will get the care they need more quickly".
But with figures now available for January, the PM has failed to cut waiting lists in the Black Country and across England.
NHS England figures show 244,689 patients were waiting for non-urgent elective operations or treatment at Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust, The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust, The Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust and Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust at the end of January.
In January 2023 it stood at 221,994.
The biggest rise was at the Wolverhampton trust which had 72,972 patients on its waiting lists in January 2023, compared to 88,806 at the end of January.
At the Dudley trust, the number of patients grew from 44,773 to 48,305 over the same period, while it rose from 70,753 to 76,273 at the Sandwell trust.
The number fell at the Walsall trust from 33,496 to 31,305.
January saw the fourth consecutive month-on-month fall across England, although 250,000 more patients were waiting than in January last year.
Nationally, 6.32 million patients were waiting for 7.58 million treatments at the end of January.
Mr Sunak admitted to failing to keep this pledge in an interview with TalkTV in February.
However, last week Health Secretary Victoria Atkins said the government’s "commitment to cutting waiting times is unwavering".
She added: "This has been achieved despite disruptive strikes and record winter pressures on our NHS services."
Meanwhile, shadow health secretary Wes Streeting accused the government of having "broken every pledge" on NHS waits.
The Health Foundation said despite some progress, the NHS has a "mountain to climb" on waiting lists.
Tim Gardner, assistant director for policy at the charity, said there was no "silver bullet", but investment and long-term action would help relieve pressures on the health service.
Professor Sir Stephen Powis, NHS national medical director, said "demand for NHS services across the country remains high".
He said: "It is testament to the hard work of staff and the measures in our elective recovery plan that despite the longest period of industrial action in NHS history in January, with one in five days affected, staff still managed to bring the waiting list down."
He added that staff are using new technologies to bring down the longest waits for patients.
