Bolton's health chiefs are ‘doing everything they can’ to reduce the number of people on waiting lists and the length of time they are waiting for treatment.

This comes as new data shows tens of thousands of patients were waiting for routine treatment at the Bolton NHS Foundation Trust in December.

NHS England figures show 44,526 patients were waiting for non-urgent elective operations or treatment at Bolton NHS Foundation Trust at the end of December – up slightly from 44,404 in November, and 37,722 in December 2022.

Of those, 2,816 (six per cent) had been waiting for longer than a year.

The median waiting time from referral at an NHS Trust to treatment at the Bolton Trust was 17 weeks at the end of December – up from 16 weeks in November.

At the Bolton Trust, 3,130 patients were waiting for one of 13 standard tests, such as an MRI scan, non-obstetric ultrasound, or gastroscopy at this time.

Of them, 394 (13 per cent) had been waiting for at least six weeks.

Other figures show cancer patients at the Bolton Trust are not being seen quickly enough.

The NHS states 85 per cent of cancer patients with an urgent referral should start treatment within 62 days.

But NHS England data shows just 80 per cent of cancer patients urgently referred to the Bolton Trust in December began treatment within two months of their referral.

That was down from both 81 per cent in November, and 87 per cent in December 2022.

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Rae Wheatcroft, Chief Operating Officer at Bolton NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We are doing everything we can to reduce the number of people on our waiting lists and the length of time they are waiting for the treatment and care they need.

“This includes making sure our patients who need our help the most are seen as soon as possible. 

“We are working with other hospital trusts in Greater Manchester to share capacity and delivering our plans to bring down our waiting times for cancer diagnosis and treatment following an increase in the number of people being referred to us.

“At the start of this year we opened four new, state-of-the-art, operating theatres that provide us with capacity to reduce waiting lists, with around 5,000 patients set to use them each year.

“In the coming weeks we will also be opening a brand-new Community Diagnostic Centre which will improve access to a wide range of important tests, such as MRI, CT and X-ray scans.  This new development will help us to diagnose conditions as early as possible.

“We know waiting for hospital care can be a stressful and concerning time which is why the NHS in Greater Manchester has created really useful help and advice to manage your physical and mental health while you wait.”

Nationally, 7.6 million people were waiting to start treatment at the end of December – slightly down from 7.61 million in November and the third consecutive fall.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “Cutting waiting lists is one of the Government’s top five priorities and, despite winter pressures and the impact of industrial action, overall NHS waiting lists have decreased for the third month in a row.

“We’re determined to continue improving patient care, having already delivered on our promise to create 5,000 extra permanent hospital beds and 10,000 hospital at home beds, freeing up capacity and cutting waiting times.”

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