News alert / Waiting lists reduced

New monthly figures from NHS England show that the number of patients awaiting elective care in October was down to 6.44 million, with waits for procedures and appointments down to 7.71 million (7.77 million in September). Ambulance response times in November were faster across all categories, with category 1 call-outs almost 10 seconds faster (8:32) than October and category 2 almost three minutes faster (38:30). 

More than 826,000 calls to 999 were answered in November, on average five times faster than in the same month last year. The data also shows handover times have improved since the previous month, averaging 35:04 minutes (37:33 in October). However, separate weekly winter data shows winter viruses continue to rapidly rise in hospitals – 402 patients were in hospital with flu last week, up by 65.4% from the week before, and 506 adults with norovirus last week, up by almost 25% on the previous week. Staff absences are also increasing.