Specialist surgical hubs needed to tackle ‘colossal backlog’ of operations after Covid, doctors say

Record 5 million people waiting to start NHS hospital treatment

More than 436,000 patients waiting longer than a year for treatment (Getty Images)

Surgeons are calling for specialist hubs to tackle a “colossal backlog” of non-urgent operations created by the Covid pandemic.

The Royal College of Surgeons (RCS) said such facilities in every region of England would allow planned surgery, such as hip and knee replacements, to be performed should there be a fresh wave of Covid-19 or other severe pressures caused by flu.

Almost 5 million people were waiting to start NHS hospital treatment at the end of March – the highest number since records began in August 2007 – after elective surgery was cancelled during the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic.

More than 436,000 patients were waiting longer than a year by the end of March, up from 387,000 in February.

Professor Neil Mortensen, the president of the RCS, said: “The surgical hub model is the best way we can keep treating people who need operations, regardless of future pandemics.”

The RCS also called on the government to commit to spending an extra £1bn on surgery annually for the next five years.

Professor Mortensen said surgery must be available on the NHS all year round, “not stop and start”.

“If a dangerous new variant of Covid-19 takes hold, or another bad flu arrives in the autumn, we cannot allow surgery to grind to a halt again or waiting lists will become insurmountable,” he said.

The comments came as Covid infections rose in the UK, with up to three-quarters of new cases thought to be caused by the variant first detected in India, according to Matt Hancock, the health secretary.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “We have backed the NHS at every point in the pandemic, safeguarding urgent treatment such as cancer and emergency care, while protecting the NHS to ensure it was not overwhelmed.

“We are providing an extra £7bn for health and care services this year, as well as £1bn to tackle the backlogs that have built up, bringing our total additional Covid-19 investment to £92bn.

“We face an unprecedented challenge and will continue to work closely with the NHS to accelerate the recovery of services so everyone gets the care they need, including £160m to support hospitals to find innovative ways to carry out even more operations and cut waiting lists.”