Nursery World - 'National scandal' that more than 400,000 children are awaiting hospital appointments

A record 403,995 children are awaiting consultant-led treatment, enough to fill Wembley Stadium four times over, finds new research.

The RCPCH has called the all time high of the number of children awaiting consultant-led treatment a 'national scandal', PHOTO: Adobe Stock

According to analysis of NHS England data by the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH), of the 403,995 children awaiting appointments, 17,991 have been waiting for more than a year, this is despite the NHS England ‘zero-tolerance’ policy for 52-week waits.

At the same time, it finds there has been ‘considerable progress' in reducing wait times for adult treatment in recent months.

RCPCH’s President, Dr Camilla Kingdon, called the figures a ‘national scandal’, and said that ‘child health teams are working tirelessly to address the growing backlogs, but without proper support, their efforts are unable to make a meaningful dent in the problem’.

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