Tens of thousands on Wigan and Leigh's waiting list for routine treatment

The latest NHS figures shows that 40,233 patients were waiting for non-urgent elective operations or treatment at Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust at the end of March – up from 39,540 in February, and 29,416 in March 2021.

Of those, 1,347 (3%) had been waiting for longer than a year, although the number of people waiting more than two years for treatment has dropped for the second month in a row.

On average, the median waiting time for a referral at an NHS Trust across the borough was 14 weeks at the end of March.

Nationally, 6.4 million people were waiting to start treatment at the end of the month, which is the highest number since records began in 2007.

The Queen's Speech, read by Prince Charles on May 10, identified reducing the backlog of care as one of the Government's top three priorities.

Cutting the NHS backlog is said to be one of the government's main priorities (PA)

Commenting on the data, Dr Tim Cooksley, president of the medical representative body, Society for Acute Medicine, said:

“The latest set of performance data shows that the new 'normal' is at an unacceptably poor level for both patients and staff.

“Pressures are at unsustainable levels and, at months where NHS teams hope for a quieter period, worse performance and standards are dominating the horizon."

He added: “This is an emergency which needs recognition, action and support on an urgent basis; it cannot afford to join the waiting list being endured by so many patients.”

There are calls for the Government to act quickly in order to cut waiting times (NHS)

The Department of Health and Social Care said it has provided a record £36 billion over the next three years for the NHS and social care, and launched a plan to tackle the Covid backlog.

A spokesman added: “We recognise the unprecedented pressure NHS staff are under from the pandemic – especially frontline ambulance workers."