THE NHS is facing a “crisis of the government’s making,” the labour movement stressed yesterday after official figures showed treatment waiting lists have ballooned to a record high of more than seven million people. 

The shocking figure, which refers to England alone, shows austerity-hit health services are “bursting at the seams,” unions and campaigners warned. 

October’s total of 7.2 million — up from 7.1m on the previous month — was published alongside A&E data, which reveals that just 68.9 per cent of patients were seen within four hours — the worst performance ever recorded.