THE number of people waiting for treatment at Worcestershire’s hospitals has grown to 51,000 according to the latest NHS figures.

A total of 51,005 people in the county were waiting to be treated at the end of May as waiting lists for hospital care grew by four per cent in a month.

The backlog of cancer patients waiting over 62 days also increased to 231 from 211 in April, with 81 people across the county waiting over three months for treatment.

Just over half of the patients in Worcestershire were seen within 18 weeks – the target waiting time for non-urgent or ‘routine’ referrals – which is way below the 92 per cent target set by the NHS itself.

The average for all hospitals in England treating patients within 18 weeks currently stands at just over 67 per cent as the number of people waiting for treatment surged to just over 5.3 million by the end of May.

Comparing the figures year-on-year, just one per cent of patients in Worcestershire were waiting more than a year according to figures from June 2020 but that had increased to 12 per cent by May.

Half of patients had been waiting more than 18 weeks for treatment at the end of June last year and that had fallen slightly to 48 per cent by May.

A total of 35,013 people in Worcestershire were waiting for treatment at the end of June last year but that had risen by almost 55 per cent to 51,005 patients by the end of May – the latest month of data available.

The number of patients in the care of Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs Worcestershire Royal Hospital in Worcester and Alexandra Hospital in Redditch, waiting more than 18 weeks for treatment jumped to 24,477 in May – an increase of 415 patients when compared to April.

A total of 4,072 people have been waiting between 40 weeks and a year for treatment in Worcestershire but those waiting over a year reduced slightly from 6,287 in April to 5,920 in May.

Of those patients waiting over a year, 2,318 have been waiting over 16 months with 516 needing trauma and orthopaedic surgery including treatment on bones and joints.

According to the figures, 506 people were waiting for urology treatment – such as kidney and bladder disorders - and 508 patients were waiting for oral surgery.

Seven specialties have over 1,000 patients waiting more than 18 weeks which is more than three quarters of all of the trust’s 18-week target breaches.

Three of those specialties now have over 3,000 patients breaching waiting targets and those seven specialties make up 85 per cent of all patients waiting over a year for treatment.