COLCHESTER Hospital's boss has pledged to "get ahead of the game" for the winter period amid unusually high numbers of delays.

Nick Hulme, chief executive of East Suffolk & North Essex NHS Trust, told BBC Radio 4 Today’s Programme: “We’re already seeing significant numbers of delays both within the hospital and further down the line in ambulances, so we wouldn’t normally expect that at this time of year.”

He added: “The positive aspect … that we’ve started our planning much earlier.

"We’ve seen the investment centrally down to trusts much earlier, in systems much earlier than we’ve previously seen.

“So we’re getting ahead of the game this year in a way that we haven’t done in the past, going out to make new appointments for staff, both within the hospital and outside the hospital so we can support patients to get home quicker if we’ve got the resources in the community.”

Last week the Gazette revealed thousands of patients waited longer than a year for routine treatment at the trust, which runs both Colchester and Ipswich hospitals.

NHS England figures show 73,392 patients were waiting for non-urgent elective operations or treatment at East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust at the end of June.

This figure is up from 71,006 in May and 59,543 in June 2021.

Of the latest June figures, 2,657 patents had been waiting for longer than a year.

Jessica Morris, fellow at the Nuffield Trust health think tank, said the NHS has had success in clearing the vast majority of two-year waits.

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

The NHS states 85 per cent of cancer patients urgently referred by a GP should start treatment within 62 days.

But data shows just 75 per cent of patients urgently referred by the NHS who received cancer treatment at the trust in June began treatment within two months of their referral.

That was up from 73 per cent in May, but down from 81 per cent in June 2021 last year.

Dr Martin Mansfield, deputy chief medical officer at the trust, said: “Our teams regularly review all the patients on our waiting lists, and we are committed to treating everyone who is waiting for treatment in the communities we serve as quickly and safely as possible.

“Waiting lists have undoubtedly increased due to the Covid-19 pandemic response and its ongoing impact, but we do not want anyone to wait any longer than necessary.

“We are working hard to reduce the backlog at our trust, and we are prioritising patients based on clinical need, in line with national guidance for all NHS trusts.”