Recent figures from the NHS show that 94,684 people are currently waiting for NHS treatment across Derbyshire, with a record 6.6 million people on the NHS waiting list in England.

Locally, almost 1,500 people have been waiting for more than a year, under three separate Conservative Health Secretaries.

There were 40,702 people nationally waiting more than 2 weeks for an appointment after an urgent cancer referral in May 2022 (83% were seen in 2 weeks, compared to a target of 92%)

· 72.1% of A&E patients were seen within 4 hours in June 2022 – the 95% standard has not been met since July 2015.

· Stroke and heart attack victims were left waiting for 51 minutes for an ambulance on average.

At the outbreak of the Covid pandemic, following a decade of Tory mismanagement there were 4.4 million people on the NHS waiting list in England, then a record high. Nationally, the standard of 92% of people seen within 18 weeks of a referral has not been met since 2016. Now, 1 in every 9 people in England are on the NHS waiting list.

Before the pandemic, the waiting list in England stood at a record 4.4 million and was growing by about 300,000 a year. The NHS hasn’t met the standard of 92% of people seen within 18 weeks since 2016. The NHS went into the latest wave of Covid infections with the longest waiting list ever, understaffed and overstretched.

The Conservative Government published its elective care recovery plan for the NHS last month but failed to set out how it would address the workforce shortages the NHS is facing. The plan set the Government’s ambition as beginning to reduce waiting lists in 2024.

Toby said: “Record numbers of people across Chesterfield and Staveley are waiting for care and they are waiting longer than ever before, often in pain and distress.

“Our local health care staff at Derbyshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust are amazing, and they have worked heroically throughout the pandemic, but they have been stretched like never before.

“As the Culture Secretary admits, a decade of Conservative mismanagement left the NHS “wanting and inadequate” when Covid struck, and patients are now left to wait too long as a result”.

Wes Streeting MP, Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary, said: “One in every nine people is now waiting for NHS care, and they are waiting longer than ever before. Hundreds of thousands of patients have now been waiting for care through three Conservative Health Secretaries. The only discussion of the NHS in the Conservative leadership election seems to be about how much they plan to cut it by. We may have a new Prime Minister in two months’ time, but only a Labour government will give Britain the fresh start it needs. Labour will rebuild our NHS with the staff, equipment and modern technology needed to treat patients on time again.”