WHILE Warrington Hospital has seen waiting lists drop by 3,532 since the last general election – and over 300,000 nationwide – there is still a “strong case” for a new hospital in the town, says Warrington North MP Charlotte Nichols.
The MP says that for too long, patients were promised change in the NHS but saw little of it. This Labour government has started to turn that around.
Ms Nichols said: “This is why we are seeing a drop in 3,532 in the waiting list for Warrington Hospital since the general election in 2024, and by over 300,000 nationwide.
“The data shows that not only did waiting lists fall by over 86,000 in the month of November nationally – but that we saw the second biggest drop in waits in 15 years.
“The progress came despite the NHS’s busiest ever year, with 27.8 million A&E attendances in 2025 – over 367,000 up on 2024, with 2.33 million attendances in December alone.”
In the year since the Elective Reform Plan was launched, Ms Nichols says Labour have brought in record investment and real modernisation to cut waiting lists – including creating more evening and weekend clinics, new and expanded community diagnostic centres and surgical hubs, crack teams of experts being sent to 20 hospital trusts across England with the highest levels of economic inactivity, and cutting unnecessary appointments by sending patients “straight to test” rather than multiple clinic visits.
Ms Nichols added: “NHS staff in Warrington have worked incredibly hard to shrink down the waiting list while seeing a record surge in patients last year.”
“Thanks to this Labour government’s Elective Reform Plan, our record investment and modernisation, thousands more patients got a faster diagnosis and received faster treatment or the all-clear over the last 12 months.”
“This is despite services facing consistently high levels of pressure and experiencing another record year for A&E and ambulances.”
“There is still a strong case for a new Warrington Hospital and I will continue to make the case to Ministers every chance I get.”
“It will be a long road, but Labour is fixing our health service in Warrington and making it fit for the future and beyond.”
Daniel Moore, Chief Operating Officer at Warrington and Halton Teaching Hospitals, said: “I am proud of the work our teams are doing to reduce our waiting lists and improve access to diagnosis and treatment.
“Over the past 12 months we have made significant investments and introduced innovative new approaches to offer additional capacity and reduce backlogs. This includes our one-stop Gynaecology Super Clinics which offer weekend appointments, a new £3 million theatre at Halton Hospital to provide additional capacity for planned operations and the opening of our Warrington and Halton Diagnostics Centre at Halton Hospital offering CT and MRI services to more than 30,000 patients.
“We know there is more to do and we will continue to identify further improvements and opportunities for investment to help us transform patient pathways, reduce waiting lists and ensure that patients have timely access to the care they need.”
