Hundreds of patients wait more than a year for NHS treatment

Figures released by the Department of Health show that the number of people waiting for NHS care has gone up by 61% in a year. Nearly 12,000 people waited longer than six months for treatment, and 718 of these had waited longer than 12 months.

NHS aims to treat 90% of patients receiving non-emergency operations within 18 weeks of GP referral. The 10% leeway reflects the fact that some patients may choose to wait longer for personal or medical reasons.

But East Cheshire is just one NHS trust that is struggling to meet this target. It covers 200,000 people across three hospitals and carries out 16,000 non-emergency operations each year. This year, only 62% of patients received treatment within 18 weeks.

East Cheshire is not the only hospital trust facing problems; another 60 trusts did not hit the target in June.

Despite these figures, the NHS is expected to cut £20billion over the next four years from budgets.

Dr Mark Porter, chairman of the BMA's consultants committee, said: "Trusts are having to make huge cost savings as demand for services continues to grow. The NHS is being asked to do more with fewer resources, and it was always likely there would be an impact on waiting times."

This news follows reports that the number of people waiting more than 6 weeks for NHS tests has quadrupled.

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