DAUK’s GP lead Dr Lizzie Toberty has called for a joined up approach to health to ease pressure on the NHS.
Dr Toberty told national radio listeners that the government needed to invest in public health to improve the health of the nation and prevent people getting unwell.
Speaking on Nick Ferrari’s breakfast time programme on LBC, Dr Toberty said: “We need to look at public health and the reasons why we are unwell and getting unwell.
“The public health budget has been slashed by about a third in real terms since 2010.
“We need to urgently look at and try to improve the health of our nation proactively and not just wait until people are getting unwell.”
Dr Toberty was commenting on the latest NHS referral to treatment figures for June 2024 show that the waiting list stood at 7.6 million cases, with an estimated 6.4 million patients.
Among the 7.6 million, in 302,693 cases the patient was waiting more than 52 weeks, the NHS said.
In 58,024 cases they were waiting more than 65 weeks, in 2,621 cases they were waiting more than 78 weeks, and in 120 cases they were waiting more than 104 weeks.
In 58.9 per cent of cases the patient had been waiting up to 18 weeks, missing the target of 92 per cent.
Dr Toberty told national radio listeners that she was not surprised by the figures.
Waiting lists
“As a nation we are unhealthy and sick,” she said.
“There are one in nine of us waiting for treatment at the moment, and I don’t think there are any quick fixes.
“I know about the suffering and the difficulties our patients are having, and not just the patients but their families and their carers around them.
“When we have these problems, it starts to put pressure on the rest of the health service because a problem initially then creates problems with pain and depression and other things.
“People have to go somewhere with those issues so you can see how things quickly escalate.
“I’m glad this is a top priority for the government, and it needs to be.
“If we can bring waiting lists down I am convinced we will reduce some of the pressures on the acute parts of our services.”
Dr Toberty said the government should look at investment in the NHS as an investment in the wider economy.
“This needs investment,” she said “They need to pay overtime, and we need to get this down.
“This is an investment in our health service, in our economy, in getting us well and back on our feet again.”
Listen again to Dr Toberty’s interview on the DAUK page on X.
