112 patients wait a year for hospital

More than 100 people had to wait more than a year for treatment at hospitals across the Midlands, despite the figure halving nationally new figures have revealed.

There were 112 people who had waited over a year for treatment in the Black Country in October with Dudley's Russells Hall Hospital having the most.

The Government has demanded hospitals take action amid fears hospitals are prioritising patients who they can treat within the target time of 18 weeks while those beyond that are left to wait.

To tackle the problem the Government has said it will create a new target to prevent people waiting so long for treatment.

Wolverhampton's New Cross Hospital had 10 people who had waited over a year, with the number of people waiting longer than 18 weeks more than doubling from 389 last year to 856 this year.

The total number of people on the waiting list at the hospital in October was 20,641, up from 18,814 last year.

Russells Hall Hospital had 89 people waiting over a year although the number of people waiting over 18 weeks had fallen from 492 last year to 403 in October this year.

The total number of patients waiting fell from 9,619 to 8,974.

At Walsall Manor Hospital there were five patients waiting over a year with 761 patients waiting over 18 weeks. Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust had eight people waiting over a year compared to five last year.

Stafford Hospital did not submit any waiting time data to an ongoing computer problem.

Dr Rob Findlay, who runs the NHS Gooroo website on waiting times said: "Nationally the NHS has tackled waiting times. It is important year-long waitrters are tackled some of these people may need treatment and they could come to harm."