Hutton: Welcoming NHS data

Health minister John Hutton has welcomed a continuing downward trend in NHS waiting lists.

Speaking as the latest figures were published, the health minister said increased spending was producing improvements in the NHS.

The data showed that the total number of people on NHS waiting lists in England fell by 4,500 to 856,600 during September.

And the number of patients waiting over nine months was 122, a fall of 43,000 on the previous year.

Of the 122 people waiting over nine months, 19 patients had experienced delays of over a year.

Hutton welcomed the news that waiting lists have fallen nine months in a row, and are now down by 300,000 since March 1997.

"Waiting times overall are continuing to fall thanks to the hard work of staff and the investment and capacity we are adding to the NHS," he said.

"Year on year the trend on both waiting lists and waiting times is clearly downwards.

"Waiting lists fell below one million for the first time in a decade in March 2003 and since then we have continued to see further progress.

"By 2008 no one will have to wait longer than 18 weeks from GP referral to hospital treatment, and most people will experience much shorter waits, with even quicker access in priority areas such as cancer."