Number of people waiting over a year for surgery up to 400,000, says Steve Barclay

The Health Secretary has told the Cabinet that the pandemic has 'exacerbated the pressures' on the NHS as Rishi Sunak says the country is facing a "difficult" winter

Health Secretary Steve Barclay has updated the Cabinet on NHS waiting lists (

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The number of people waiting more than a year for an operation has risen from 1,600 to 400,000, the health secretary has told the Cabinet.

Steve Barclay highlighted the incredible 24,900% increase since before the pandemic as Rishi Sunak warned the country faces a 'difficult' winter ahead.

At a Cabinet meeting, ministers discussed spiraling NHS waiting lists, soaring inflation and strikes hitting swaths of the public sector.

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Mr. Barclay "outlined some of the issues facing the healthcare system where the pandemic has significantly exacerbated pressures", according to No 10.

But Labor said the Health Secretary was trying to blame it on the pandemic with a massive pre-Covid NHS backlog.

Labour's Wes Streeting says 'the Tories failed for years before the pandemic' (

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Getty Images)

Last week, the public spending watchdog, the National Audit Office, also warned that Tory plans to cut long waits for the health service were at serious risk.

Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting said: 'The Tories failed for years before the pandemic to treat patients or deliver ambulances on time.

"Steve Barclay returns to the discredited Tory scenario of claiming Tory NHS backlogs are Covid backlogs.

He added: 'But he cannot explain why the NHS entered the pandemic with record waiting lists and 100,000 staff shortages.

"It's not that the conservators didn't fix the roof when the sun was shining, they took the roof down and tore up the boards."

No10 also said there was no discussion of possible...