A RECORD number of patients had been waiting a year or more for routine treatment at University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust (UHMBT) in February, figures reveal.

NHS statistics show 2,344 patients listed for elective operations or treatment at UHMBT at the end of February had been waiting for at least a year – 10 per cent of all those on the waiting list.

This is the highest figure for the month of February since comparable records began in 2012.

Overall, 24,002 people were waiting to start hospital treatment at UHMBT at the end of February – an increase of 19 per cent on February 2020.

Across England, 4.7 million people were waiting for treatment at this time – the highest number since records began in mid-2007.

This was up from 4.6 million in January, and means almost half a million patients have been added to the waiting list since the pandemic began in March 2020.