Children’s NHS waiting lists must be a priority, not an afterthought

Editorial: The country’s top children’s doctor has issued a stark warning about young patients being left behind by the NHS. It’s time for politicians to act

The Independent first revealed warnings about children’s waiting lists in leaked documents last year (PA)

If the National Health Service is turning a corner – and it is a big “if” – then children should be the first to benefit. Instead, while waiting lists for adults have started to fall in England, those for children are still rising.

“If a child is waiting 52 weeks for treatment and they’re three years old, 52 weeks is a third of their life. I think it’s a disgrace,” Dr Camilla Kingdon, the outgoing president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, told The Independent. “Children have to be prioritised in a way they haven’t been.”

The prime minister should listen to her, and Sir Keir Starmer, who could be in 10 Downing Street by the end of the year, should do so too. There is “a lot of work to do”, she said, in drumming up the political will to cut waiting lists – and to reorder priorities within that drive for change.