Updated waiting list figures from NHS England for June 2022, analysis from LCP’s NHS Waiting List Tracker

The number on the waiting list increased from 6.6 million in May 2022 to 6.7 million in June 2022.

This is now 59% higher than before the pandemic began (March 2020).

The number waiting a year or more for treatment increased from 331,623 in May 2022 to 355,774.

There are now 53,911 waiting more than 18 months for treatment (an 9.8% decrease from May 22) and 3,861 waiting at least 2 years (an 52% decrease from May 22).

Orthopaedics continues to have the largest waiting list at 760,108.

Large regional inequalities persist across the waiting list with the number of people waiting 52 weeks or more for orthopaedics 71 times higher in Devon than South Tyneside.

Adjusting for population size shows a 50-fold difference in the orthopaedics waiting list across best and worst performing CCGs.

Dr Jonathan Pearson-Stuttard, Head of Health Analytics at LCP, commented: “The number of people waiting for NHS elective care in poor health for longer continues to increase. While it is pleasing to see the almost elimination of people waiting two years of more for care, the continued increase in people waiting one year or more continue to increases. More worrying still, the inequalities across geographies continues to persist at vast levels and the true size of the waiting list when including the estimating ‘hidden need’ remains unknown. The newly formed integrated care systems must take a proportionate approach to ensure existing health inequalities across and within places are not worsened further.”