PATIENTS waited an average of 20 weeks for routine treatment at Worcestershire Acute Hospitals Trust in February, figures show.

NHS England figures show the median waiting time for non-urgent elective operations or treatment at Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust was 20 weeks at the end of February – up from 19 weeks in January.

This was also more than the average 17-week wait a year previously.

There were 55,857 patients on the waiting list in February. This was down from 56,695 in January, but an increase on 43,669 in February 2021. 

Of those, 5,884 had been waiting for longer than two years.

Worcester News:

Nationally, 6.2 million people were waiting to start treatment at the end of February, up from 6.1 million in January and the highest number since records began in August 2007.

Separate figures show at Worcestershire Acute Hospitals Trust - which runs Worcestershire Royal Hospital, Kidderminster Hospital and the Alexandra Hospital in Redditch - 10,229 patients were waiting for one of 13 standard tests, such as an MRI scan, non-obstetric ultrasound or gastroscopy in February.

Of them, 3,182, 31 per cent, had been waiting for at least six weeks.

Cancer patients not seen quick enough

 

And other figures show cancer patients at Worcestershire Acute Hospitals Trust are not being seen quickly enough.

The NHS states 85 per cent of cancer patients urgently referred by a GP should start treatment within 62 days.

But NHS England data shows just 54 per cent of patients received cancer treatment within two months of an urgent referral at Worcestershire Acute Hospitals Trust in February.

That was down from both 56 per cent in January, and 60 per cent in February 2021 last year.

NHS England national medical director Professor Stephen Powis said: “Nobody should be under any illusion about how tough a job NHS staff have on their hands, balancing competing priorities and maintaining high-quality patient care.

“Despite pressure on various fronts and the busiest winter ever for the NHS, long waits fell as staff continue to tackle two-year waits by July thanks to the innovative approaches to care they are now adopting."