The Government has been monitoring years of declines in cancer care and non-urgent hospital care in England, MPs say.
The House of Commons Public Accounts Committee said services had started to deteriorate well before the pandemic.
It pointed out that key goals had not been met since 2016 and the pandemic had only exacerbated problems.
But ministers said they would invest extra money and create more capacity to treat patients to tackle the backlog that has now built up.
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More than six million people are currently on a hospital waiting list – one in nine of the population – the highest number on record.
This includes people awaiting surgeries like knee and hip replacements.
Now, only two-thirds of urgent cancer patients begin treatment within the target time of 62 days.
And the number of referrals for cancer treatment has fallen by 240,000 to 740,000 since the pandemic began.
MPs said people would face serious health consequences due to delays in cancer treatment, with some dying sooner.
The government has also been accused of failing to recognize that healthcare staffing remains its biggest concern.
MPs said the workforce was crippled by shortages and exhausted by two years of the pandemic.
Dame Meg Hillier, Chair of the PAC, said: “The Department of Health and Social Care has been overseeing a long-term decline that is dragging down our NHS and heroic staff.”
And she is “extremely concerned” that there is still no real plan to tackle the problems.
Last month the government announced a recovery plan that would invest an additional £8 billion over the next three years, which ministers said would see 30% more patients treated.
Critical to this will be the establishment of a network of 160 community diagnostic centers along with surgical centers focused on high-volume, routine surgeries away from the major hospital sites to increase efficiency and reduce the likelihood of emergencies that result in cancellations.
The Department of Health and Social Care defended its record, saying it had invested extra money in services throughout the period and the new plan would really impact wait times.
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