Here is a little known fact. 

According to UK government statistics, the average waiting time for a patient to receive treatment in an NHS hospital is calculated by adding up the total number of days already waited on the day of the survey, and then dividing it by the number of people surveyed. The calculation does not take into account the number of days that those patients need to wait until they are treated.

So if all patients have to wait ten weeks until they are treated, the average figure will be calculated by adding up the number of days already waited – 1 to 69 – and dividing it by the number of patients.

If your grasp of maths is as bad as mine, then you will need a pencil to work out that this means that a ten week waiting list will produce a statistical average waiting time of five weeks. 

Do you still trust New Labour?