Blair's election pledge

Leap in Hospital Waiting Lists

Figures published by the Government show an increase of 136,500 patients in the year to the end of June - taking the total waiting for hospital operations to 1.2 million.

The 13% increase has prompted criticism of Labour's election pledge to reduce waiting lists by 100,000. The Government says the rise is a legacy of the previous Conservative government's policies.

Frank Dobson: "Worse to Come"

The number of patients waiting more than a year for operations has risen by 36,000 since the end of June last year when the total stood at 10,400.

And the number of patients waiting more than 18 months - a breach of the Patient's Charter - has also risen from nine to 388.

The Health Secretary, Frank Dobson, said this week in the Nursing Times: "The waiting lists will ultimately come down but not this year or the coming winter."

And the Health Minister, Alan Milburn, announced that health authorities would be given an extra two months each year to plan their spending. The Government is said to be hoping that the move will reduce pressure for panic hosptial cuts and ward closures over the winter.

Mr Milburn placed the blame for the lengthening lists with the previous Tory government. He said: "These figures confirm the appalling legacy the Conservatives left to the NHS. This is the sixth quarterly rise in waiting lists since September 1995.

"Record NHS waiting lists and longer waiting times are the price patients have paid for the squandering of precious NHS resources on running the Tories' internal market."

Health Minister Alan Milburn tells BBC Radio it will be hard to stop the increases Dur:3'55"

Dr Sandy Macara, chairman of the British Medical Association Council, said the figures were no surprise. He said they were "grim news for patients, for doctors and for all those who work in the NHS". He added: "The only way to prevent this is an immediate injection of additional resources this winter."

Join the queue

The Shadow Health Secretary, John Maples, agreed that waiting lists would rise further.

"Today's figures show that the Government is likely to break its key election pledge to reduce NHS waiting lists by 100,000," he said.

Tory Spending Plans

"The increase in waiting lists over the last 12 months is largely due to an unprecedented increase in emergency admissions during the winter. The evidence is that emergency admissions are continuing to grow, making the task of cutting waiting lists even more difficult," he said.

"Unfortunately, the Government is exacerbating the problem by increasing costs and reducing efficiency."

The Liberal Democrat Health Spokesman, Dr Evan Harris, attacked the Government for making promises it could not keep. He said Mr Dobson had to choose between breaking the Labour election pledge to reduce waiting lists or its five-year pledge not to raise the upper rate of income tax.

"Labour cannot blame the Tory NHS spending record for the state of NHS waiting lists while at the same time adopting Tory spending plans. The Liberal Democrats were the only party at the last election to point out to people that they couldn't have the shorter waiting lists promised by Labour posters at the same time as lower taxes promised by Tory posters."