TENS of thousands of patients were waiting for routine treatment at north Essex hospitals in September, figures show.

NHS England figures show 77,357 patients were waiting for non-urgent elective operations or treatment at East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust at the end of September – up from 75,961 in August, and 62,903 in September 2021.

Of those, 3,408 or four per cent, had been waiting for longer than a year.

The median waiting time from referral at an NHS Trust to treatment at the East Suffolk and North Essex Trust was 13 weeks at the end of September – the same as in August.

Neill Moloney is deputy chief executive at East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust (ESNEFT), which runs Colchester and Ipswich hospitals and community services in east Suffolk and north Essex.

He said: “We are sorry to anyone in our communities who is experiencing a delay with their care and treatment. Please be assured our hardworking teams are committed to treating patients on our waiting lists as quickly and as safely as possible.

“We have recovery action plans in place, and we are doing everything we can to reduce the backlog. This includes increasing our theatre capacity and running additional clinic lists.

“We also continue to prioritise patients based on their clinical need, in line with national guidance for all NHS trusts.”

Separate figures show 1.6 million patients in England were waiting for a key diagnostic test in September – a rise on 1.5 million in August.

At the East Suffolk and North Essex Trust, 11,130 patients were waiting for one of 14 standard tests, such as an MRI scan, non-obstetric ultrasound or gastroscopy at this time.

Other figures show cancer patients at the East Suffolk and North Essex 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 NHS England data shows just 70 per cent of patients urgently referred by their GP who received cancer treatment at the East Suffolk and North Essex Trust in September began treatment within two months of their referral.

That was down from both 74 per cent in August, and 74 per cent in September 2021 last year.