HOSPITAL waiting lists are rising once more, reversing one of the government’s few claims of success.

After seven months of falls, today’s figures showed an estimated 7.42 million planned treatments were waiting to be carried out at the end of March, relating to 6.25m patients.

This is a slight increase from 7.4m treatments for 6.24m patients at the end of February.

The figures are a blow to Health Secretary Wes Streeting, a leading figure on Labour’s right. He said: “We have been clear it will take time to reverse the disastrous waiting list we inherited.

“We have overseen a massive increase in appointments available to meet rising demand, reduced long waits and helped people get diagnosed quicker,” he claimed.

Nuffield Trust deputy director of research Sarah Scobie said: “The number of people facing extremely long waits for a hospital appointment has reduced, but progress in bringing down the overall waiting list is stalling.”

Royal College of Surgeons of England vice-president Professor Frank Smith said staff were working tirelessly, but warned: “We can’t get away from the fact that the pace of progress remains sluggish. This calls into question whether government targets will be met.

“Our members frequently tell us they could be doing more surgeries if they had enough operating theatres, or if existing facilities weren’t out of commission due to disrepair.

“If this government is serious about delivering on its waiting time pledges, it must be realistic and find further capital funding to repair crumbling NHS estates and expand capacity.”