South East facing some of longest NHS wait times

University Hospitals Sussex NHS Trust was the third worst in the country

Some of the longest waiting times for hospital treatment in the country can be found in south-east England, latest NHS figures have shown.

Patients should be seen within a target time of 18 weeks for routine treatments, but in January, 57% of patients served by University Hospitals Sussex NHS Trust were waiting longer than that target - the third longest in the country.

East Kent Hospitals NHS Trust also featured in the top 10 worst-performing trusts, with 51% of patients waiting longer than 18 weeks.

BBC South East’s health correspondent Mark Norman said both trusts were working hard to bring down their lists and were introducing new clinics and new ways of working.

In Sussex, Geoffrey Bowden, chairman of Healthwatch, Brighton and Hove, said: “There is no quick solution. All we can do is to keep monitoring the services, work with the trust to show where there can be improvements into the delivery of care and trust that they will actually do that.

“They all want to do well. They do not want to see waiting lists.”

Mark Norman said there were currently 400,000 people across the South East waiting for a planned procedure.

He said University Hospitals Sussex NHS had reduced its list every month since October from 155,000 to 142,000.

East Kent Hospitals NHS Trust also featured also in the top 10 worst-performing trusts

Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust was one of the country's best performing trusts with 29% of patients waiting longer than the target. The England average was 43%.

Meanwhile, figures showed cancer waiting times also remained below target - the time from diagnosis to beginning treatment was supposed to be 62 days.

Cancer patient Adam Barker, who ended up being treated privately, said: “It’s really tough to know that you've got something inside you that is potentially killing you and could spread and when it spreads, that’s it, type of thing. So I was desperate to try and find a solution."