THE shocking scale of the NHS waiting list crisis has led to patients across Britain routinely facing delays of more than 18 weeks for treatment, Labour warned yesterday.

The party said that record waiting times — beyond the 18-week maximum set out in the NHS constitution — are leaving patients in pain and at risk of permanent disability.

After a decade of austerity and amid unprecedented demand during the Covid-19 pandemic, the health service will not cope without an urgent rescue plan, Labour said.

The party’s analysis of official figures showed that the number of people waiting more than 18 weeks for trauma and orthopaedic surgery in England is close to a quarter of a million, and 57,488 people had not been treated after a year.

The data also showed that more than 13,000 children were waiting at least 12 months for paediatric services.

Areas with the longest delays include University Hospitals West Midlands, where the average wait for rheumatology services is 44 weeks, and Airedale NHS Foundation Trust, where trauma and orthopaedic patients face a median 22-week delay. 

Shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth called for action before winter, including a quarterly plan from ministers on how to tackle waiting lists, and an NHS rescue plan to ensure that staff have the resources they need. 

“Ultimately patients are paying the price for Tory failure to support the NHS and staff over the past decade – leaving the service understaffed, with beds cut and lacking the diagnostic equipment needed,” he stressed. 

“Patients in pain will be asking whether [Prime Minister] Boris Johnson’s promises on the NHS are meaningless.

“Ministers must now take the action needed to prevent people becoming seriously ill, to deliver care on time and return the NHS to the world class service it should be.”

North of the border, Scottish Labour slammed the SNP’s record yesterday after figures showed that 608,581 patients were on waiting lists at the end of June.

About six in 10 (61 per cent) face a delay of more than 12 weeks, and just under a quarter (24 per cent) endure a gruelling 52-week wait.

Reflecting on the numbers, the party’s health spokewoman Jackie Baillie said that the NHS is “struggling to keep up with clinical demand and thousands of Scots are in danger as a result.

“It’s high time that [Scottish Health Secretary] Humza Yousaf listened to staff on the front line and acted.”