A PATIENT at that hospital trust serving Warrington and Halton waited more than two and a half years for treatment.

The delay has been put down to the pressures of the coronavirus pandemic, with other hospital trust across the country experiencing similar and even worse wait times.

The NHS does not routinely publish details on how long patients have been waiting after two years – categorising them all as waiting for ‘two years or over’.

To find out how much longer these patients had been waiting, Freedom of Information Act requests were submitted to hospital trusts across England.

Trusts were asked how many patients had been waiting for three years in January – in line with the latest available data from the NHS at the time – how many had been waiting for at least four years, and the longest period a patient had been waiting for an appointment.

Figures provided by Warrington and Halton Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust show one patient had been waiting 139 weeks – around two years and eight months – to undergo general surgery as of the end of January.

From the 69 trusts that responded across England, more than 91 patients had been waiting for at least three years, with at least eight waiting for four years or more.

NHS England data shows that a total of 23,778 people in England were waiting more than two years to start routine hospital treatment at the end of January – around nine times the 2,608 people who were waiting longer than two years in April 2021.

While there could be important caveats behind the data – such as patients choosing to delay their care for personal reasons or data anomalies – the figures obtained suggest that many patients have been left waiting in pain or have been suffering for years.

The trust oversees both Halton and Warrington hospital sites

The trust oversees both Halton and Warrington hospital sites

Dan Moore, chief operating officer at the hospital trust, expressed his sympathy for the wait and confirmed that the patient in question has since undergone his operation.

He said: “Like other hospitals around the country, we are continuing to recover from the impact that Covid-19 has had on our services.

“We are very sorry that any of our patients are having to wait longer than hoped for their procedures.

“We are making good progress on tackling the backlogs that accumulated during the multiple waves of the pandemic, while at the same time addressing the increase in demand for urgent and emergency care.

“We have prioritised those patients who have been waiting the longest based on clinical need, which is in line with national guidance, and I am pleased to advise that patient in question has since been treated. I do hope he is continuing to recover well at home.”

Professor Neil Mortensen, president of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, commented that it was ‘shocking’ that people have been waiting years for planned NHS hospital treatment.

“Waiting in limbo for a planned hip, hernia or ear operation can cause real emotional and physical distress,” he added.

The Government and NHS England have set the ambition to eliminate all waits of more than two years, except when it is the patient’s choice, by July 2022.

Chris Hopson, chief executive of NHS Providers, which represents NHS trusts, said the health service is still facing huge pressures but trusts are doing ‘all they can’ to reduce patient backlogs.