Current chancellor and Conservative leadership hopeful, Rishi Sunak has said tackling the NHS backlog is the biggest public services emergency.

6.6 million people are currently waiting for hospital treatment in England.

Sunak says he plans to eliminate one-year waiting times by September 2024 and reduce overall numbers by next year.

Sunak made the comments during a speech in Grantham, Margaret Thatcher's hometown.

According to Sunak, without a radically different approach, the NHS will break under unsustainable pressure.

"We need a fundamentally different approach," he said. "We will take the best of our Covid response and apply those lessons to clearing the massive backlog in the NHS."

He has pledged various measures, including more diagnostic services, in repurposed empty high street shops, including MRI and CT scans.