Some hospital patients in Leeds are waiting over 100 weeks to receive treatment, new data has shown.
Data on how long hospital patients have been waiting for NHS care has been accumulated through Freedom of Information requests by the Press Association. The request was put in after the latest official figures from NHS England showed that a total of 23,778 people in England were waiting more than two years to start routine hospital treatment at the end of January.
To find out how much longer patients had been waiting over the two-year mark, the PA news agency sent Freedom of Information requests to 125 non-specialist acute hospital trusts in England.
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Trusts were asked how many patients had been waiting for three years, then four years, and then the longest period a patient had been waiting for an appointment.
Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust - which covers Leeds General Infirmary, St James's University Hospital, Chapel Allerton Hospital and Leeds Children's Hospital - responded to the request. It revealed that there had been no patients waiting more than three years at the trust.
However, the trust also revealed that the longest period of time that a patient was waiting to start treatment after being referred was 147 weeks. The trust also stated that the patient was waiting for treatment for spinal surgery.
Below is a breakdown of the responses from Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust:
– The number of patients waiting for more than three years (156 weeks) at the trust: 0
– The number of patients waiting for more than four years (208 weeks) at the trust: 0
– The longest period of time in weeks that a patient was waiting to start treatment after being referred: 147
– The department the patient was waiting to be seen: Spinal surgery
