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’.
The analysis also warns that the NHS data set only represents the ‘recorded and counted cases’, with ‘hidden waiting times for community care continuing to grow’, exacerbating the situation.
It goes on to state, ‘The consequences of such long waiting times are particularly damaging for children. Many treatments and interventions must be administered within specific age or developmental stages, making the irrevocable effects of such delays even more pronounced. Prolonged waits not only impair children's mental and physical development but also have a detrimental impact on their education and overall well-being.
‘RCPCH is deeply concerned with the de-prioritisation of children and young people in current health policy and in the wider political agenda.’
The College is now calling on the health secretary, Steve Barclay, to put children at the heart of policy making by including ringfenced funding for children’s service recovery at all levels, and by publishing the long-promised NHS workforce plan immediately.
