The Salford Royal Trust: all the key numbers for the NHS Trust in January

Almost 150,000 patients were waiting for routine treatment at the Salford Royal Trust in January, figures show.

The figures come as a leading cancer campaigner calls on the Government to launch a dedicated plan to tackle the backlog in cancer treatment.

NHS England figures show 148,142 patients were waiting for non-urgent elective operations or treatment at Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust at the end of January – down slightly from 148,547 in December, but an increase on 134,437 in January last year.

Of those, 14,140 (10%) had been waiting for longer than a year.

The median waiting time from referral at an NHS Trust to treatment at the Salford Royal Trust was 18 weeks at the end of January – down from 19 weeks in December.

Nationally, 7.2 million people were waiting to start treatment at the end of January.

Professor Pat Price, co-founder of the #CatchUpWithCancer campaign and leading oncologist, said: “Today’s data shows, yet again, more patients waiting longer than ever before for life-saving cancer treatment.”

“Without a cancer plan and investment into treatment solutions, such as radiotherapy, I am worried that each month the number of cancer patients missing life-saving targets will continue to swell.”

Separate figures show cancer patients at the Salford Royal Trust are not being seen quickly enough.

The NHS states 85% of cancer patients urgently referred by a GP should start treatment within 62 days.

But NHS England data shows just 41% of patients urgently referred by the NHS who received cancer treatment at the Salford Royal Trust in January began treatment within two months of their referral.

That was down from both 52% in December, and 53% in January last year.

Across England, 54.4% of the 15,401 cancer patients who had their first treatment in January after an urgent GP referral had waited less than two months, down from 61.8% the previous month and the lowest figure since records began in 2009.

The Nuffield Trust said NHS will be straining to deliver services for "years to come".

Dr Billy Palmer, Senior Fellow at the organisation, added: “The concerning consequence of the unrelenting pressure on the NHS is that patient safety is being compromised.”

Other figures show 1.6 million patients in England were waiting for a key diagnostic test in January – a rise on 1.5 million in December.

At the Salford Royal Trust, 16,017 patients were waiting for one of 15 standard tests, such as an MRI scan, non-obstetric ultrasound or gastroscopy at this time.

Of them, 3,205 (20%) had been waiting for at least six weeks.

NHS national medical director Professor Stephen Powis said despite strikes and respiratory illnesses over the winter, NHS staff "continued to deliver for patients, bringing down elective waits, treating more cancer patients and delivering more diagnostic tests for people than ever before."

He said: “The NHS will not stop in its efforts to bring down 18 month waits for elective care and bring down the cancer backlog, but it is inevitable that if the upcoming junior doctors strikes happen they will have a significant impact on cancer care and routine operations that were scheduled to happen.

“As ever, we will do all we can to limit the impact to patients,” he added.