Sutton's King's Mill Hospital: All the key numbers for November

It comes as the King's Trust health charity said it will be a challenge to meet the Government's latest pledge to reduce waiting lists by the end of the year.

NHS England figures show 47,006 patients were waiting for non-urgent elective operations or treatment at SFH – which runs Sutton’s King’s Mill, Mansfield Community and Newark hospitals – at the end of November, up slightly from 46,975 in October, and 38,138 in November 2021.

Of those, 743, 2 per cent, had been waiting for longer than a year.

The median waiting time from referral at an NHS Trust to treatment at SFH was 11 weeks at the end of November, down from 12 weeks in October.

David Ainsworth, SFH director of strategy and partnerships, previously said: “We know the impact waiting can have on patients and their families and are working to reduce the length of time people wait.

“I thank patients for their understanding while we continue to work to reduce waiting lists. I’d also like to thank SFH colleagues and our partners for their commitment to delivering quality care as quickly as possible.”

Nationally, 6.9 million people were waiting to start treatment at the end of November.

Siva Anandaciva, chief analyst at the King’s Fund, said there was “no shying away from the reality that the NHS is deep in crisis”.

She said: “While there are huge delays in admitting patients, there are also serious issues in discharging patients – with over 13,000 people stuck in hospital despite being medically fit to leave.

“Meanwhile, the waiting list for planned hospital care remains stubbornly over 7 million and cancer services are also under pressure, which underlines the challenge in meeting the Government’s latest pledge to reduce waiting lists by the end of 2023.”

Separate figures show 1.6m patients in England were waiting for a key diagnostic test in November, a rise on 1.5m in October.

At SFH, 11,718 patients were waiting for one of 12 standard tests, such as an MRI scan, non-obstetric ultrasound or gastroscopy at this time. Of them, 3,195, 27 per cent, had been waiting for at least six weeks.

Michelle Mitchell, Cancer Research UK chief executive, said the figures “paint an extremely troubling picture for people affected by cancer”, adding: “The last time all targets for cancer waiting times were met was as far back as 2015, and the number of people waiting for diagnosis and treatment remains unacceptably high.

“It can be easy to get lost in statistics – but each one of those numbers represents someone’s child, parent, partner, sibling or friend.”

Other figures from NHS England show that of 101 patients urgently referred by the NHS who were treated at SFH in November, 62 were receiving cancer treatment within two months of their referral. A month previously – when 84 patients were referred – 43 were treated within 62 days.

In November 2021, 65 patients were treated within this period, out of 105 that were referred.