Hospitals' waiting lists backlog in Worcestershire 'won't be cleared this year'

Nearly 7,000 people in Worcestershire have been waiting more than a year for hospital treatment

A huge backlog of patients waiting for hospital treatment in Worcestershire is not expected to be cleared this year, NHS bosses have been told.

But the chief executive of Worcestershire Acute Hospitals Trust said he believed they "have started to turn the corner" on the waiting list.

Extra cash has been spent on increasing scanning and other tests in the county.

Nearly 7,000 patients have waited more than a year for treatment, latest figures show.

The data also showed 448 people in Worcestershire have waited more than two years for treatment.

With the overall waiting list at 57,664 in November, chief executive Matthew Hopkins said his staff were "really focused" on bringing it down to pre-pandemic levels.

"That is going to take quite some time because of the size of the waiting list and also because of the number of people needing our help as a consequence of not going to their GP or coming to hospital during the first lockdown," he added.

Simon Adams, from patient group Healthwatch Worcestershire, said the long delays have been tough for people across the county.

"Not only do you have a physical ailment but the longer the wait goes on, you can end up with it affecting your general health and wellbeing," he said.

In the autumn Budget, the government announced an extra £5.9bn for the NHS in England to help clear the backlog. This was on top of another funding package in September to create an extra nine million checks, scans and operations.