New Health Secretary Wes Streeting launches inquiry to reveal ‘hard truths’ about the NHS as new data reveals waiting lists STILL growing and backlog of treatments reaches 7.6 million

Wes Streeting has produced an “unpolished and honest” review of the NHS’s performance as new figures show waiting times for routine care and ambulances are increasing.

The Health Secretary has appointed Professor Lord Darzi, a surgeon and former health minister, to lead the independent inquiry, which will uncover “the hard truth”.

His findings will be presented in September and will form the basis of the government’s ten-year plan to ‘radically reform the NHS and create a health service fit for the future’.

The announcement came after NHS England revealed that waiting lists for routine care had increased for the second month in a row.

It is estimated that at the end of May, 6.38 million patients were waiting for 7.60 million treatments. At the end of April, this number was still 6.33 million patients and 7.57 million treatments.

Ambulances took an average of 34 minutes and 38 seconds to respond to emergency calls, such as heart attacks, strokes and sepsis, in June.

This is an increase from 32 minutes and 44 seconds in May, while the target now stands at 18 minutes.

In addition, the percentage of patients who had to wait no longer than 62 days from an emergency referral for cancer to the start of treatment in May was 65.8 percent. This is a decrease compared to 66.6 percent in the previous month.

Mr Streeting said: ‘Anyone who works in or uses the NHS can see that the situation is not good.

‘This government will be honest about the challenges facing health care and will tackle them seriously.

‘This investigation will reveal hard truths and I have asked that nothing be held back.

‘I trust that Lord Darzi will leave no stone unturned and has instructed him to tell those in power the truth.

‘I want an honest and unvarnished assessment of the state of the NHS.

‘This is the necessary first step towards rebuilding our National Health Service so that it can be there for us again when we need it.’

Professor Lord Darzi said: ‘As every clinician and every patient knows, the first step in addressing any health problem is to get an accurate diagnosis.

‘My job is to analyze the evidence to understand where we are now – and how we got here – so that health care can move forward.

‘This is an important step in making quality of care the organising principle of the NHS again.’

Despite the overall decline in performance, the most recent data show slight improvements in the Emergency Department.

The number of people who had to wait more than 12 hours in the Emergency Department from the decision to admit to actual admission was 38,106 in June, down from 42,555 in May.

And 74.6 per cent of patients in England were seen in A&E within four hours last month, up from 74.0 per cent in May.

Tim Gardner, deputy director of policy at the Health Foundation think tank, said: “The election of a new Labour government is a significant moment for the health service, which is facing probably the worst crisis in its 76-year history.

‘There are no quick fixes, but with the right mix of policy change, innovation and investment the new government can get the NHS back on its feet.

‘Today’s statistics are a further reminder that we have a huge mountain to climb.’

Amanda Pritchard, chief executive of NHS England, said: ‘NHS frontline staff are doing an incredible job, despite the enormous pressures they are under, delivering care to over a million people every day. But we know they face huge challenges and patients are not always getting the timely, high-quality care they need.

‘We will be working closely with government, independent experts and NHS staff to look in detail at the scale of the challenges and plan to address them. This comprehensive analysis is an important step in helping us build an NHS fit for the future.’