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

The number on the waiting list increased from 6.5 million in April 2022 to 6.6 million in May 2022.

This is now 56% higher than before the pandemic began (March 2020).

The number waiting a year or more for treatment increased from 323,093 in April 2022 to 331,623

There are now 59,762 waiting more than 18 months for treatment (an 6% decrease from April 22) and 8,028 waiting at least 2 years (an 37% decrease from April 22).

Orthopaedics continues to have the largest waiting list at 750,334.

Large regional inequalities persist across the waiting list with the number of people waiting 52 weeks or more for orthopaedics 77 times higher in Devon than North East Lincolnshire.

Adjusting for population size shows a 61-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. Most concerning are the persisting vast disparities in numbers waiting across different CCGs with a 77-fold difference in some instances. It is pleasing to see the number waiting more than 2-years and 18 months decrease however those waiting for more than 1-year continues to increase. The true size of the waiting list when including the estimating ‘hidden need’ is likely to be around twice as large. The newly formed integrated care systems must take a proportionate approach to ensure existing health inequalities across and within places are not worsened further.”