Press releases

18 Jan 2024 The President of the Royal College of Surgeons of England (RCS England) has said that problems accessing operating theatres are contributing to long waiting times for hospital treatment across the UK.  A census conducted by RCS England found more than half (56%) of the UK surgical workforce find that operating theatre access is a major challenge. Worryingly, that figure rises to 61% for all surgical trainees – meaning they are missing valuable training time.

11 Jan 2024 The NHS waiting list for consultant-led hospital treatment in England has fallen again, down to 7.6 million at the end of November 2023, according to NHS performance data published today (11 January).

21 Dec 2023 Surgeons have warned that the rising number of patient pathways on the list for treatment in Wales and substantial winter pressures on staff must serve as a wake-up call for the Welsh government and NHS leaders to accelerate the pace of change.

14 Dec 2023 NHS performance data published today (13 December) show the number of referrals to treatment (RTT) pathways where a patient was waiting to start planned consultant-led treatment has fallen by just over 41,000 to 7.71 million. There were 7,705,539 RTT pathways at the end of October 2023. Some patients are on multiple pathways. NHS England estimates the number of unique patients is around 6.5 million.

13 Dec 2023 Oscar-winning film director Guillermo del Toro has encouraged the public to visit London’s Hunterian Museum at the Royal College of Surgeons of England, “one of the top three collections in the world”, as it launches its new free digital guide.

30 Nov 2023 Surgeons have warned that stubbornly high waiting times are deepening Northern Ireland’s health inequalities. New figures released today show growth in Northern Ireland’s hospital waiting times show no sign of dramatically slowing down.

23 Nov 2023 Surgeons have warned that winter pressures will place staff under substantial pressure across the healthcare system after figures released by Stats Wales today showed hospital waiting lists continue to rise in Wales, reaching 761,111 in September 2023.

21 Nov 2023 Professor Vivien Lees, Vice President of the Royal College of Surgeons of England and Ms Tamzin Cuming, Chair of the Women in Surgery Forum at the Royal College of Surgeons of England and co-author of the Working Party on Sexual Misconduct in Surgery report ‘Breaking the Silence: Addressing Sexual Misconduct in Healthcare’ respond to Surviving in Scrubs' report.

13 Nov 2023

09 Nov 2023 Surgeons warn that the NHS backlog will not be cleared without more staff, operating theatres and surgical beds. As we enter winter, patients left to wait months and months for treatment may see their health deteriorate further, as a result of NHS waiting lists rising again.