NHS fails to meet government pledge to eradicate six-month waiting lists

Ministers have broken a promise to cut waiting times for hospital outpatients, Department of Health figures revealed last night.

A total of 1,145 outpatients were waiting more than 26 weeks for an appointment in June, two months after the Government said it would end all delays of that length.

Evan Harris, the Liberal Democrat Health spokesman, said: "Labour will probably miss the target by years despite the sacrifice of clinical priorities on the altar of target-chasing."

The latest waiting-list figures showed 1,054,700 people were waiting for in-patient treatment at English hospitals in June. This represents a rise of 16,900 (1.6 per cent) since last June. But the department pointed to figures revealing the total fell by 770 between May and June, and a drop of 103,300 since 1997.

Last month it published its Public Service Agreement, promising that the maximum wait for in-patient treatment would be six months by the end of 2005 and fall to three months by 2008. But the latest figures show more than 20,000 patients were waiting for more than 12 months for treatment in England in June this year.

Fifty-eight people were waiting more than 15 months for treatment, a fall of 12,100 on June last year. Fifty were at Royal United Hospitals Bath, where mismanagement of waiting lists has been uncovered.

John Hutton, a Health minister, said: "These figures are the latest confirmation of the steady progress the NHS is making in tackling the public's number one priority." He said improvements had been achieved because of investment and reform. "Patients are benefiting, but we are not complacent. There is still a long way to go," he said.

Liam Fox, the shadow Health Secretary, said: "It's bad enough that the headline numbers show waiting lists up compared to a year ago. But the sting in the tail is that despite increases in funding of around 6 per cent per annum, the NHS is standing still. Capacity is not growing, activity is almost stagnant and bottlenecks exist everywhere."