Waiting lists unlikely to return to pre-pandemic levels until at least 2029, warns think tank

England’s waiting lists will continue to fall this year but could remain stubbornly high and are unlikely to fall to the levels seen before the covid-19 pandemic until 2029, according to an economics think tank.The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has predicted that although NHS waiting lists in England are likely to fall steadily by the general election this year, getting them back down to pre-pandemic levels will probably take longer to achieve than the next government’s full parliamentary term which could run until 2029.IFS analysed what has happened to waiting lists over the past 17 years and presents new scenarios—optimistic and pessimistic—of what could happen over the next four years.1 It focuses mostly on England’s elective list of people waiting for pre-planned hospital treatment and outpatient appointments and says this was already growing pre-pandemic.The waiting list doubled in a decade from 2.3 million “incomplete pathways” (where the patient has…
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