A RECORD number of patients are waiting for routine treatment at the trust which runs Colchester Hospital, new figures show.

Waiting times have reached new highs due to the backlog of treatments which could not be performed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

NHS Digital figures show 59,543 patients were waiting for elective operations or treatment at East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust at the end of June up from 57,221 at the end of May.

This was also 15 per cent more than a year previously, and the highest figure for the month of June since comparable records began in 2011.

NHS rules state patients referred for non-urgent consultant-led elective care should start treatment within 18 weeks.

There were some signs of progress as the figures show the number of patients waiting longer than 18 weeks for care has dropped.

At the trust, 18,536 patients listed for routine treatment at the end of June had been waiting this long, 31 per cent of all those on the list.

This was down from 19,561 (34 per cent) waiting at least 18 weeks at the end of May.

However, there were also 2,322 patients waiting at least a year for treatment in the most recent month’s data.

Neill Moloney, deputy chief executive of East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust, admitted that waiting times had increased in line with the rest of the country.

He said: “There’s no doubt that elective surgery waiting times have increased locally and nationally because of the NHS Covid-19 pandemic response.

“This is due to elective surgery not taking place during the peak of the first and second waves and because some patients chose to delay their treatment until they had received their Covid-19 vaccinations, or they were no longer shielding.”

The Health Foundation said the latest data “highlights the difficult juggling act the NHS faces in meeting emergency pressures, restoring services and addressing the backlog of care while Covid-19 cases still remain high”.

Tim Gardner, senior policy fellow at the charity, added: “The Government and NHS leaders now need to be clear and realistic with the public about how they intend to get the NHS back to full strength.”