The National Health Service confirmed yesterday that it had turned around its finances, ending two years of deficit by recording a £640m surplus. The cash - less than 1 per cent of turnover - will help the service achieve the government's target of reducing the wait from seeing a GP to an operation to no more than 18 weeks by the end of next year.

Figures to be published today will show the scale of that challenge, with hundreds of thousands of patients still waiting more than a year for an operation, and some taking more than two years, despite big improvements already.