Britain's NHS waiting lists fall for 1st time since May 2020

By Burak Bir

LONDON (AA) - Waiting lists for the UK's National Health Service (NHS) have declined for the first time since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in May 2020, according to new figures on Thursday.

New quarterly figures showed that a total of 7.19 million patients are waiting for NHS treatment, down from 7.21 million.

However, the number of people waiting over a year for treatment is still 220 times higher compared to the pre-pandemic period, the local broadcaster Sky News reported.

The peak of the waiting list, 7.21 million, was recorded last October, a rise from nearly 4 million in May 2020, and followed 29 months of consecutive growth.

Data also revealed that the number of patients waiting for more than two years fell from 1,907 to 1,423, waiting 18 months or more dropped from 50,124 to 48,961, and those waiting for more than a year fell from 410,983 to 406,575.

Meanwhile, 50.4% of patients still have to wait for more than four hours to be seen at major Accidents and Emergency departments, according to NHS figures.