People living in poorer parts of England face worse service from the NHS, new research suggests.
People waiting for common treatments such as knee or hip replacements, and cataract surgery have described the pain and mental strain of delayed treatment. The Kings Fund, sharing its analysis with the PA news agency and Panorama, suggests people living in England’s most deprived areas are 1.8 times as likely to experience a wait of over one year for hospital care compared with people from the most affluent.Seven per cent of patients on waiting lists in the most deprived areas of the country have been waiting a year or more for treatment compared with 4% of those in the least deprived.
Almost one in five have already gone private for treatment or are considering it, but 47% said that paying for private treatment ‘was not an option’. ‘People need clear and individualised information from the NHS, such as what the next steps for their treatment or care will be and how long they can expect to wait. They also need to have easy ways to update the NHS about changes in their condition.’
‘It is not a surprise that waits for NHS care vary across the country but the fact that patients in deprived areas are nearly twice as likely to wait a year or more for planned treatment should be a wake-up call for a government that has committed to levelling up the country, and ring alarm bells for MPs in “red wall” constituencies.