NHS faces 'real test' as backlog hits 7.77m high

HEALTH bosses are facing a winter crisis after the NHS waiting list for treatment grew to a record high.

- Hanna Geissler

Some 7.77 million were in the queue at the end of September, up from 7.75 million the previous month, figures showed.

Ambulance and A&E delays were also on the rise, as experts predicted a bleak winter in the face of continued pressure.

Sarah Scobie, acting director of research at the Nuffield Trust, said there had actually been slower growth in waits during September and that "progress is being made to flatten the waiting list".

She added: "The real test will be whether this flattening can be sustained given the upcoming winter demand." But Dr Adrian Boyle, president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, said the NHS was entering "another extremely difficult winter" without enough beds.

He said: "Our worst fears are becoming manifest increases in attendances, increases in admissions, increases in dangerous and harmful delays, all not being matched with the necessary increases in beds.