More than half a million people are now on NHS waiting lists across Greater Manchester with tens of thousands of them waiting for more than one year. There are 521,000 people currently waiting for elective care which is almost double the number waiting before the pandemic, when it stood at 283,000.
And the waiting list continues to grow by around 3,300 a week on average. It comes as demand in A&E departments is still 'significantly high', affecting the number of beds available in hospitals, and staff are increasingly 'fatigued'.
Hospitals are working together to clear the backlog caused by Covid and outsourcing some elective surgeries and procedures to the private sector. However, many patients will inevitably endure excruciatingly long waits.
