The impact of living with a condition such as arthritis cannot be dismissed.
I can assure you that reducing waiting times for elective care - including hip and knee replacement surgery - is an urgent priority for the Government. That’s why £5.4 billion of funding was recently announced to begin reducing the backlog of elective care. In addition to this, the number of surgical hubs will be increased to deliver more hip and knee replacements in a COVID-secure environment.
NHS England and Improvement will be publishing a plan for the recovery of elective care in England in due course, and is currently developing a national offer to ensure that people waiting for treatment have access to information and support in the meantime.
When routine operations are disrupted, it is particularly important that local NHS bodies clearly communicate with people with arthritis on waiting lists for surgery about when they can expect to be treated, and signpost to information and support available from charities like Versus Arthritis.