Hundreds more patients join treatment waiting list at University Hospitals Sussex Trust

Hundreds more patients were added to the waiting list for routine treatment at University Hospitals Sussex Trust in December, figures show.

Health Secretary Sajid Javid has set out plans to help the NHS recover from Covid-19, as the number of people on waiting lists reached record levels nationally – but he has said they will continue to rise for another two years.

NHS England figures show 104,487 patients were waiting for non-urgent elective operations or treatment at University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust at the end of December – up from 103,985 the month before.

The median waiting time from referral to treatment was 15 weeks in December, compared to 0 weeks a year earlier.

The median – the middle number in a series – is used to ensure the figures are not skewed by extreme highs or lows.

It meant 56% of patients started treatment within the NHS’s target time of 18 weeks – slightly lower than last month, when 58% of patients began treatment on time.

Across England, 6.07 million people were waiting to start treatment at the end of December – up from 6 million in November, and the highest number since records began in August 2007.

Of them, 311,000 had been waiting longer than a year – 39% more than in December 2020.

Among those on the waiting list are people needing scans and tests, hip and knee operations, and cataract surgery.

The Government and NHS England have set an ambition of eliminating all waits of more than a year by March 2025.