7 hours agoShareSaveDaniel WainwrightData journalist, BBC VerifyShareSaveGetty ImagesNick TriggleShareSaveDoctors and patient groups warn that the NHS in England is facing an uphill struggle on the government’s number one NHS priority – improving hospital waiting times.They are concerned about the lack of progress towards hitting the 18-week waiting time target, one of Labour’s key election pledges. It has not been met since 2015.Since the election, the proportion of patients waiting less than 18 weeks has improved, but by less than a percentage point.And an analysis of hospital trusts by BBC Verify found over a third are seeing a smaller share of patients within 18 weeks since the NHS improvement plan was announced in January.But the government said it was premature to suggest progress was too slow as the NHS had only started to push forward with the government’s improvement plan in April. Before that, it had focussed on other priorities, including tackling the very longest waits.It said the fact waiting times had continued to improve even during winter – the first time this had happened for 10 years – was encouraging.And in an interview with the BBC, Health Secretary Wes Streeting said progress would go “further and faster” in the coming years, helped by the extra money being invested and the 10-year NHS plan, due to be published next week.He said lots had been achieved so far, including millions more appointments being carried out and the total number of patients on the waiting list dropping to below 7.4 million, its lowest level for two years.On the 18-week target, he acknowledged there was “much more to do”, before adding: “There’s a big challenge here. Are we going to meet it? Absolutely. We are not going to let people down.”The government has promised to hit the target by March 2029, which requires 92% of patients to be seen within 18 weeks.In January, every hospital trust was given their own individual performance targets to meet by March 2026 as the first step in achieving that pledge.BBC Verify is launching an interactive tool, which we will update when there is new data, so you can find out how well your local NHS services are doing. We have included NHS trusts in England that had at least 5,000 cases waiting in November.’I’ve forgotten what it is like to not be in pain’John WinnikJohn Winnik does not know when he will get treatment for a problem with his back.The grandfather from West Yorkshire, who has arthritis, has been on an NHS waiting list for nine months so far – much longer than the 18 weeks the health service says should be the limit.The 73-year-old paid privately to go to Lithuania for a right hip replacement last year, having spent more than a year on the NHS waiting list.He’s also having injections in his left hip, which will eventually need replacing.”I’m living in constant pain,” said Mr Winnik, a self-employed consultant in the glass lamination industry. “I’ve forgotten what it is like to not be in pain, to be honest. I haven’t played golf for two years and if I do five minutes of gardening, I’m shattered.”Royal College of Surgeons of England president Tim Mitchell said: “The NHS is changing course, but the sails still lack wind.”Progress is being made in some parts of the country, but it’s too slow to meet the government’s ambition of hitting the 18-week target by the end of this parliament.”Delayed operations mean patients left waiting in pain, with their condition potentially deteriorating.”He said the extra money being put into the NHS in the coming years would help, but “serious underinvestment” in infrastructure like operating theatres over the years is hampering efforts.Deborah Alsina, chief executive of the patient group Versus Arthritis, also has doubts, saying there was scepticism about whether the rapid progress needed could be achieved.And she added: “It is impossible to overstate the personal, physical and mental toll of being stuck on a waiting list in daily pain, sometimes for years.”Ther …
