Labour’s Parliamentary candidates in Cornwall have responded to the latest shocking NHS waiting list figures.

Almost 7.7 million people nationally are waiting for treatment – with 48,096 on the waiting list at Royal Cornwall Hospitals’ Trust.  Of those waiting in Cornwall, a total of 2,825 have been waiting longer than a year. The NHS target is for patients to wait no longer than 18 weeks for hospital treatment, but 38% patients on waiting lists in Cornwall are waiting longer than that.

The number of people waiting for treatment across England has increased every single month since Rishi Sunak pledged to cut NHS waiting lists. Since he became Prime Minister, waiting lists have grown by 724,000 patients.

Doctors’ strikes are hampering NHS efforts to bring down waiting lists, but the Health Secretary hasn’t met junior doctors since May or consultants since March. Rishi Sunak still refuses to meet either group of doctors.

Labour will cut waiting times and ensure that the target of treatment within 18 weeks is met once again. The party is pledging to oversee the biggest expansion of NHS staff in history, training thousands more doctors and nurses a year. The health service will also focus more on providing healthcare in the community and make greater use of modern technology, so problems are caught earlier when it is simpler to treat patients and cheaper for the taxpayer.

– Labour’s Parliamentary candidates for Truro and Falmouth and Camborne Redruth Hayle commented:

Jayne Kirkham said: –

“The longer the Conservatives are in power, the longer people in Cornwall will wait for care – our local public services are on their knees. Over 48,000 are stuck on the waiting list at RCHT. That means pain, anxiety and lives put on hold.”

“Only 36% of the people waiting for orthopaedic treatment in Cornwall are treated within 18 weeks. I meet so many people who are unable to walk or work because they are waiting for hip or knee operations.”

Labour has a plan to get our NHS back on its feet. We would make building an NHS fit for the future a central mission of the next Labour Government, starting with one of the greatest workforce expansions our health service has ever seen – funded by scrapping the non-dom status.”

Perran Moon said:

“My dad, Dr Charles Moon, was a GP in Pool for more than 40 years. We are both horrified by what has happened to the NHS in recent years. Record numbers of patients are waiting for healthcare and they are left waiting unacceptably long, whether it’s for an operation, ambulance, or in A&E. For millions of patients across England, the NHS is no longer there for them when they need it.

“On the NHS, Rishi Sunak is Inaction Man, refusing to meet with doctors to end NHS strikes and adding to the Conservatives’ NHS backlog, leaving patients waiting for months on end in pain and agony.

“It will take the party of the NHS to pull it out of this crisis and restore it to good health. Labour will train thousands more staff and reform the health service, so it is there for us when we need it once again.”