Leeds Children’s Hospital's 'Super Saturday' highlights issues in healthcare - The Yorkshire Post says

The number of people in England waiting to start hospital treatment rose to 7.1 million at the end of September, the highest since records began. It is unacceptably poor for patients but also shows how difficult it is for staff working in the overstretched NHS.

Leeds Children’s Hospital is even having to go so far as to put on extra clinics and operations this weekend to shift some of its backlog.

Some eight extra operations have been planned alongside 42 outpatient appointments for what is being dubbed “Super Saturday”.

That and the fact that nurses have taken the decision to strike is evidence enough that all parts of the NHS have been stretched to near breaking point. And it could only get worse as we get deeper into the winter months.

It paints a picture of an existential crisis in the healthcare system. A system that can ill afford further pain from austerity measures.

The waiting list figures aren’t just numbers and stats. Instead there are people’s lives behind the numbers. As Cancer Research UK’s chief executive Michelle Mitchell said: “Behind today’s numbers are real people affected by cancer and facing unacceptably long waits for diagnosis and treatment during what is already an incredibly anxious time – real people who continue to be promised better by successive health secretaries, but who nonetheless continue to be let down.”