Hospitals in the East of England will be able to address unfair elective waits for patients living in deprived areas, as new regional data shows patients from these communities are more likely to wait longer.

Data published for the first time ever by the NHS show patients in the poorest communities are more likely to be waiting longer than 18 weeks than any other group in the region:

• 46.9% of those living in the most deprived areas of the region (Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) 1)) waiting more than 18 weeks, compared to 43% for those from IMD 10.

Jatinder Garcha, director of commissioning of public health at NHS England – East of England said: “The East of England is made up of a diverse population living in a variety of coastal, rural and urban areas.  Identifying and understanding patient demographics is vital if we are to address the inequalities in access and quality of care that we know exist.

“Publishing this data for the first time gives much greater transparency of NHS services, allowing patients and the public to see the makeup of local lists. NHS teams are now able to analyse this latest data, which will be invaluable in boosting the targeted work we are already delivering across the region to reduce both inequalities and waiting times.”

Tackling health inequalities is at the heart of the 10 Year Health Plan which sets out how people living in working class and deprived communities will benefit from billions of pounds of funding diverted from other areas.

The rollout of Neighbourhood Health Centres will first be targeted at the places where healthy life expectancy is lowest, including deindustrialised cities and coastal towns, reducing the estimated £240-330 billion cost of sickness to the economy.

The NHS is also at the heart of tackling economic inactivity, with people from traditionally working-class communities, ethnic minorities and those who often struggle to find work to be supported onto the NHS career ladder with £5 million of investment to recruit 1,000 people from groups or areas worst hit by unemployment.

The government is already providing faster access to treatment through its Plan for Change, having nationally delivered over 4.6 million extra elective care appointments, delivering over 6.5 million extra diagnostic tests and scans, and cutting the overall waiting list in England by over 260,000 since July 2024.

The NHS committed to publishing the data as part of its Elective Care Reform Plan, as part of a move to make the NHS the most transparent health system in the world.

The waiting list figures are broken down by age, sex, ethnicity, and deprivation levels, supporting local NHS services to address unfair variation in patient care.

Health and Social Care Secretary, Wes Streeting said: “We inherited an NHS which after years of neglect had left all patients worse off – but some more than others.

“Sunlight is the best disinfectant. Only by being upfront and shining a light on inequalities can we begin to tackle the problem. We will give all patients the care they need when they need it as part of our Plan for Change.

“Our 10 Year Health Plan will tackle health inequalities faced across the country, diverting billions of pounds to working class communities, and providing truly targeted, bespoke care to all patients where they live via the Neighbourhood Health Service.”

Daniel Elkeles, chief executive of NHS Providers, said: “Tackling health disparities is rightly front and centre in the 10-year Health Plan.

“Breaking down waiting list figures by age, sex, ethnicity, and deprivation levels is a welcome, much-needed step to help NHS trusts identify and tackle deep-rooted differences in the way groups of patients are treated.”

Sharon Brennan, Director of Policy and External Affairs, National Voices said: “The 10 year plan places a great emphasis on patient experience and transparency of data, and this data release is the first step to seeing that approach becoming more widespread across the NHS.

“By understanding the demographics of who is waiting longer, trusts can take actions to reduce those who are unfairly waiting longer than others – this might be as simple as offering to help people get to appointments or ensuring people understand that they have choice over where to be treated.

“Being honest with the public about the impact of health inequalities on waiting times is an important step to winning back the trust of communities who often feel unheard and sometimes unwanted.”

Professor Ranee Thakar, President of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, said: “We welcome the publication of detailed elective recovery data as a vital step in addressing the postcode lottery in gynaecology care. At the moment, women in the most deprived areas face some of the longest waits, threatening to entrench existing health inequalities.

“Delays can lead to a need for more complex treatment and significantly impact women’s health, wellbeing, and daily lives. We know that our members are working tirelessly to deliver more appointments and so it is encouraging to see waiting lists begin to fall in recent months.

“Accurate and transparent data will enable the NHS to best identify inequalities, design more equitable services and drive targeted reductions in long waiting lists.”

The NHS is making more services more conveniently available through the NHS App, with translation services in multiple languages, to ensure everyone can access the treatment they need regardless of race or background.

Local NHS providers are being asked to use the data to analyse and understand potential inequalities in their waiting lists and take steps to address them. Trusts will build evidence-based plans to put addressing inequalities at the heart of efforts to cut waiting lists.

It will also support trusts to put in place targeted measures to improve health while waiting – increasing the likelihood of positive outcomes, lowering the risk of cancellations and any productivity loss.

Background

• The new data is published on NHS England’s website: Statistics » Waiting List Minimum Data Set (WLMDS) Information
• Each patient demographic is independent so does not show intersectionality. For example, you can see how many women are waiting and how many over 65s, but not the number of women over 65.
• The figures use the latest weekly management information and run up until 29 June. Going forward, this data will be published as part of NHS England’s monthly performance statistics.
• The national level data includes categories for NHS Other and Independent Sector providers, while lower-level geography data sets show figures for NHS acute trusts only.
• The deprivation figures are significant regionally, both comparing the least with the most deprived and across the distribution as a whole.
• The differences between age groups regionally are significant, though it should be noted that the main reasons for most differences particularly between men and women and between age groups will be the treatments they are waiting for.
• The data provided does not show statistically significant differences for the ethnic minority groups in the region.