News alert / Waiting list health inequalities

A new report from The King’s Fund finds that people from the most deprived areas in England are more likely to have long waits for planned hospital care than people from less deprived areas. The thinktank warns these inequalities could become further entrenched unless the government makes a firm commitment to taking a more inclusive approach to tackling hospital waiting lists. The researchers found that while some local NHS organisations had made progress in understanding the unequal experiences of people waiting for planned hospital care, there had been limited concrete action to address these inequalities.  (See News.)