Excuse me for my cynicism, but I can’t help but notice a timely press release sent out by the Department for Health this morning which reads:

NHS inpatient and outpatient waiting times figures, 31 December 2009

The key points from the latest release are:

Inpatient Waiting times

• The number of patients, for whom English commissioners are responsible, waiting over the 26 weeks standard for inpatient admission at the end of December 2009 was 18 (compared to the total of 625,100).

• The number of patients, for whom English commissioners are responsible, waiting over 13 weeks at the end of December 2009 was 57,600, an increase of 12,300 (27.3%) from November 2009, and a rise of 18,000 (45.3%) from December 2008.

Outpatient Waiting times

• The number of patients, for whom English commissioners are responsible, waiting over the 13 weeks standard for a first outpatient appointment following GP referral at the end of December 2009 was 93 (compared to the total of 926,800).

• The number of patients, for whom English commissioners are responsible, waiting over 8 weeks at the end of December 2009 was 74,100, an increase of 11,700 (18.8%) from November 2009, but a rise of 26,900 (57.0%) from December 2008.

It’s not rocket science to see that Labour’s claim to have reduced waiting lists and drastically improved the NHS are now completely flawed. Just under a 30% increase last month alone and a 45% increase during 2009. That is a massive jump, a jumpt that cannot be underestimated, yet because of other events going on today, it will receive nil coverage.

Now then, I wonder what other news there is today, perhaps a little inquiry and a certain witness who may have been around at the time of Iraq war. Yes, you’ve got it, the Labour government have done it again, in their usual typical style they’ve pushed out bad news on a day when the media’s attentions are focussed elsewhere. It’s the style we’ve come to expect, so it’s not really that surprising. Iain Dale picked up on the story first and rightly pointed out that on a day when there’s a big political event happening, it’s always worth checking the press rooms of government departments.