Waiting lists rise

Surge in referrals after winter

- BY MARTIN BAGOT Health Editor

THE NHS waiting list has gone up for the first time in seven months after a surge in patients presenting themselves for routine care.

More people have come forward for non-urgent treatments and operations after the busiest winter in NHS history.

The rise of 18,751 appointments taking the backlog to 7.42 million in England will be a blow to Labour who had boasted of finally turning the tide against NHS waits which had surged for over a decade under the Tories.