The waiting must be cut

IT is good news for the people of Bucks that the Government has given an extra £3.3m to the county to help cut long hospital waiting lists.

Concerns about the state of the NHS were uppermost in voters' minds when the General Election was held on May 1 last year.

Since Labour swept to power the public have waited for the party to perform miracles to help remedy the ailing NHS and now perhaps this cash injection can go a little way to easing the pressure of the long waiting lists.

South Buckinghamshire NHS Trust will receive £560,000 which will open up extra hospital beds and a fifth intensive care bed.

At the end of March, there were 4,531 patients waiting for treatment in the South Bucks area, 351 higher than at the same time last year. There are also 291 people who have been waiting more than a year, compared to none two years ago.

Most people expect to have to wait a couple of months to receive non-emergency treatment, but having to wait a year or more seems totally unacceptable.

We have been told that those people who have been waiting the longest will have priority, along with those who will gain the most health benefit from having operations. Hopefully this cash injection will be one of many in the future.

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