Number of people waiting NHS treatment in Newcastle reaches RECORD high

The number of people waiting for treatment on the NHS in Newcastle has reached a record high.

The latest figures from the NHS show that 93,343 people were on the waiting list at the Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in December 2021.

Of those people, 4,276 have been waiting for more than a year for an appointment and 241 people have been waiting for more than two years.

The figures see an 8% rise in just eight months with 7,133 more people on the waiting list.

It is a similar picture across the country with one in every nine people waiting for treatment on the NHS.

The national standard of seeing 92% of people within 18 weeks of a referral has also not been hit by 2016.

Chi Onwurah, MP for Newcastle Central, has called for action on the rapidly growing NHS waiting lists facing Geordies.

She said: “People in Newcastle Central are being forced to wait months and even years for treatment, often in pain and discomfort.

"Now the Government is telling them that, despite hiking up their national insurance, they will continue waiting longer for years to come.

“It is clear that the longer we give the Tories, the longer patients will wait.

“As the TV show ‘Geordie Hospital’ shows, the staff at the Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust have worked heroically throughout the pandemic, but they have been stretched like never before.

“The Government must give us the staff and support the Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust needs to get patients the quality care they deserve, when they need it."