Responding to today’s NHSE monthly performance figures, David Furness, director of policy and delivery at IHPN said: “Unfortunately, this is another bleak set of figures, with overall numbers of people on the waiting list still going up.

Furness said that the fact that the number of people waiting 65 weeks was increasing was a real concern: “To have nearly 110,000 people waiting 65 weeks – a rise of nearly 13,000 in a month – particularly given the focus there has been on this group of very long waiters is especially concerning.

“We need urgently to be pulling on every lever at our disposal, including deploying the capacity which exists within the independent sector to treat NHS patients more quickly.

“At the same time, the continued industrial action is having a clear impact which we need to get on top of. We need both the unions and the government to get around the table and try and reach a resolution, for the sake of staff and patients.”

Furness added that there were also particular concerns about waiting lists for community services – which have risen sharply.

There are now over 1 million people waiting.

“While we often see a lot of focus and attention on the wider elective waiting lists, along with emergency performance, we never seem to talk about the vital work which happens in the community and the picture there.

“What we see today is more signs of services under immense pressure. Independent providers are key partners in the delivery of NHS community services across the country, and they’re telling us how difficult it is.”