The number on the waiting list increased from 6.06 million in December 2021 to 6.1 million in January 2022.

This is now 44% higher than before the pandemic began (March 2020).

The number waiting a year or more for treatment increased from 310,813 to 311,528

There are now 75,992 waiting more than 18 months for treatment (an 5% decrease from November 21) and 23,778 waiting at least 2 years (an 16% increase from November 21).

Orthopaedics continues to have the largest waiting list at 705,364.

Large regional inequalities persist across the waiting list with the number of people waiting 52 weeks or more for orthopaedics 75 times higher in Devon than North East Lincolnshire.

Adjusting for population size shows a 67-fold difference in the orthopaedics waiting list across best and worst performing CCGs.

Dr Jonathan Pearson-Stuttard, Head of Health Analytics at LCP, commented: “The number waiting for care from the NHS continues to increase. Most concerning are the persisting vast disparities in numbers waiting across different CCGs with a 75-fold difference in some instances. The number waiting more than 2-years increased by 16% in the latest figures at nearly 24,000. These numbers reflect some of the impact of the  Omicron Covid-19 wave felt across England. As activity levels are not yet at pre-pandemic levels we expect these numbers to worsen further in coming months representing millions of people living in poor health. The true size of the waiting list when including the ‘hidden need’ is likely to be double.”