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a huge impact that coronavirus is having on the NHS was made clear today as new figures revealed just how many people have now been waiting more than a year for routine hospital treatments and operations.
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It's at its highest level in England for 12 years.
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By September, almost 140,000 people have been waiting more than a year for non urgent operations like hip and knee replacements.
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Compare that to the month before the pandemic hit in February.
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This year, when just over 1600 people have been waiting that long on, it could get worse.
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Some hospitals around the country have started to cut back non urgent work even further.
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In recent weeks.
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Our health editor, Hugh Pym, has more.
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It's another cruel consequence of co vid.
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Routine operations and procedures were canceled to clear hospital beds for coronavirus patients earlier this year.
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That's meant long waits and increasing pain for many other patients.
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And he said, This isn't even up for discussion.
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You need both hips replaced.
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Since last year, Helen has struggled with arthritis in her hips.
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She was told she needed a double replacement on went in for a pre op assessment in September, but she's heard nothing since.
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I'm in quite a lot of pain.
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Some days are worse than others.
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Sometimes I go into a spasm.
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It's just not knowing.
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I don't know whether I should be walking, and I don't know whether I should be sitting down resting it.
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There's just nobody telling May what, what, what I should and shouldn't dio on when it might happen.
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Hospital leaders argue that since the summer, there has been a big increase in the number of patients getting non urgent treatment as co vid pressures eased.
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But it's been hard to bring down the backlog on DCU cope with new work coming in.
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Cancer treatment has been affected, too, partly because people might have Bean worried about going into hospitals.
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Around 888,000 patients had checks for potential cancer between April and September, but that's down 27% on the same period last year.
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The number actually starting treatment 121,900 between April and September.
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That's down 22%.
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NHS England says cancer services for new patients coming forward to their GPS on their needing treatment are back to where they were before the co vid crisis.
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But charities and campaigners argue that a backlog of work has built up over the last six months on that has Bean harmful for some patients.
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It's incredibly serious.
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It's probably the worst cancer crisis in my lifetime.
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On the problem Is cancer doesn't wait.
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There's data out now saying that even for a four week delay, you could have enough to 10% reduction in survival.
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Sarah had successful treatment for colon cancer and is in remission, but she needs restorative surgery.
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There have been delays, and she hasn't been told when the next operation will happen, being left in this state of not knowing because there isn't really anyone to call because they're all too busy.
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You know, someone like me who is recovering from cancer, but you know it's not life or death.
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You are just left in a sort of wasteland with sort of not knowing what's going on because of the surgeon co vid cases and admissions of MAWR seriously ill patients, some major hospitals having to postpone non urgent surgery again, that can only mean waiting lists getting longer on mawr.
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Discomfort for those who have already faced frustration and delays.
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Well, The latest government figures show 563 deaths were reported.
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That's people who died within 28 days of a positive covert 19 test.
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It takes the total number of deaths so far across the UK to 50,928.
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There was also a big spike in new cases, with 33,470 new coronavirus infections recorded in the latest 24 hour period.
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That's a record number on the average number of new cases per day in the last week is now 23,857.
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Well is with me now that that big spike in new cases, it's thought that that was to do with the gap between a second lock down, being announced and coming into force, and people just going out and about Yes, Sophie.
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There are, of course, caveats not to read too much into one days figures they are quite volatile, but public health England, who compiled them for the UK say yes, thes are genuine new cases that have emerged over the last couple of days and just being reported on If you go back five days or a week.
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That's the length of time it takes to develop symptoms and go for a test.
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You get back to those few days before lock down was imposed in England on presumably more people going out and about in the virus spreading more.
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Now we'll have to see what happens in the next few days to the daily case numbers.
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But a certain percentage of these people will become seriously ill sadly, and end up in hospital.
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That will put yet mawr pressure on those hospitals needing to find beds for co vid patients and, of course, less capacity to deal with routine operations on procedures, as we've been hearing and maybe more delays on a bigger waiting list developing here.
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Thank you.
