NHS pressures
Fact checks about waiting lists, unpaid overtime and availability of health care services
How many people died while on waiting lists?
Apparently contradictory research from Labour and the Times suggests that either 121,000 or 340,000 people died while waiting for treatment in England last year.
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No clear evidence of a significant fall in average waiting times
The health minister Maria Caulfield said that NHS England waiting times were falling “drastically”. The latest data does not support this.
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The overall NHS waiting list continues to rise
Rishi Sunak says the government’s “cutting waiting lists”. That’s true in the case of some specific NHS waiting lists, but not for the main list overall.
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Labour’s analysis on five million ‘denied’ GP appointments fact checked
This widely reported figure is an estimate, based on several assumptions that may not be right.
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Health minister claims contract yet to be awarded has been ‘procured’—then denies she said it
Maria Caulfield told Parliament that an ambulance service support contract was “procured”—not that “we are procuring” it, as she later claimed. NHS England says this contract has not yet been …
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Survey of GPs’ retirement plans is not reliable
The GPs who responded were the ones who knew about the survey and chose to participate—who are not necessarily representative of GPs as a whole.
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Two doctors with same name cause Times letter confusion
A social media post incorrectly claims that a letter written to The Times was from a doctor who died in 2016.
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Daily Mail report on GPs seeing fewer patients on Fridays needs more context
There are some important caveats to figures showing GP appointments drop off later in the week.
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Has the NHS had its budget reduced by £30 billion?
Labour claims that the Budget took £30bn out of day to day health spending, this is true if you include the withdrawal of last year’s Covid money.
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Mirror claims NHS staff work 11 hours unpaid overtime on average but it’s probably more like two hours
NHS staff survey data suggests the average respondent in 2019 worked around two hours unpaid overtime. Even this should be taken with a pinch of salt.
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