Health secretary warns 5.45m figure will rise sharply even further, as result of backlog from pandemic
Sajid Javid has warned that the number of people needing hospital treatment in England is set to rise sharply, outstripping the new record of almost 5.5m already on the NHS waiting list.
The health secretary said the government would consider boosting the NHS’s budget to help it cope with a “huge increase” in demand linked to services being disrupted by Covid, including surgery.