Waiting times decreased under New Labour after they embarked upon the largest amount of privatization seen in the NHS at the time. By 2007 waiting lists were down 6 months at a maximum from over 2 years for some patients beforehand. They were also doing this with increased demands.

Every year demands on the NHS increase through inflation, a rapidly expanding population and normalized excellence. You can spend tens of thousands of pounds preventing people dying from cancer only to find they now spend more time living in poor health and adding to the NHS' burden, so should that be viewed as the NHS being more efficient or not?

The problem is people politicising the NHS. Any attempt to make it more efficient is attacked as privatisation or politicians "SELLIN' ARE NHS TO THEIR FAT CAT M8S". There has never been a time when somebody hasn't claimed the NHS is currently in crisis, I remember it back in the 90s under Major, then in the 2000s under Blair and it's still in "crisis" now. It's a meme that needs to die so people can actually discuss the issue constructively.