There are now 29,303 people on the waiting list at Milton Keynes University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust according to the latest figures – up 24.1% in a year.

732 people have been waiting for more than a year for an appointment and 22 people had been waiting more than 2 years.

Across the country there have never been more people on the waiting list – more than 5.8 million are currently waiting. Nationally, the standard of 92% of people seen within 18 weeks of a referral has not been met since 2016. Just over 1 in 10 people in England are on the NHS waiting list (10.3 per cent).

Nationally, the NHS is short of 100,000 staff, including 7,000 doctors and 40,000 nurses. In the Budget last month, the Chancellor did not set out a plan to recruit, train, and retain the staff needed to solve this waiting list crisis.

Councillor Pete Marland, Labour Leader of Milton Keynes Council, said: “Waiting lists in Milton Keynes are too long and are getting longer. That’s not just a statistic – it’s local people living with real pain, and risk longer than they should.

“This isn’t just about Covid – key targets haven’t been met across the country for years. From waiting lists to A&E to getting an appointment with your local GP, for local people our health service is going backwards.”

Jonathan Ashworth, Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, added: “We’ve heard serious warnings from hospital chiefs about the unsustainable pressure the NHS is under. These figures are confirmation of the dangerously lengthy waiting times patients are forced to endure and the scale of pressure on overwhelmed A&Es.

“The coming winter weeks are set to be the most challenging in history for the NHS. It’s now urgent Ministers fix the stalling vaccination programme, resolve the immediate crisis in social care and bring forward a long term plan to recruit the health care staff our NHS desperately needs, which Rishi Sunak has failed to provide despite imposing a punishing tax rise on working people.”