King’s Mill Hospital: all the key numbers for Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Trust

The figures come as the King's Fund warns the NHS is “bursting at the seams”, as winter pressures mount up.

NHS England figures show 46,975 patients were waiting for non-urgent elective operations or treatment at Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs Sutton’s King’s Mill, Mansfield Community and Newark hospitals, at the end of October, up from 46,344 in September, and 38,821 in October 2021.

Of those, 732, 2 per cent, had been waiting more than a year.

The median waiting time from referral to treatment at SFH was 12 weeks at the end of October, up from 11 weeks in September.

David Ainsworth, SFH director of strategy and partnerships, said: “We know the impact waiting can have on patients and their families and are working to reduce the length of time people wait.

“I thank patients for their understanding while we continue to work to reduce waiting lists. I’d also like to thank SFH colleagues and our partners for their commitment to delivering quality care as quickly as possible.”

Nationally, seven million people were waiting to start treatment at the end of October.

Danielle Jefferies, from the King’s Fund, said: “The figures show an NHS bursting at the seams.

“It is easy to become numb to dire performance figures, but the NHS is facing the toughest pressures since records began.”

Separate figures show 1.5 million patients in England waiting for a key diagnostic test in October, down from 1.6m in September.

At SFH, 11,676 patients were waiting for one of 12 standard tests, such as a gastroscopy, with 3,044, 26 per cent, waiting at least six weeks.

Other NHS England figures show, of 84 patients urgently referred by the NHS who were treated at SFH in October, 43 were receiving cancer treatment within two months of their referral, compared with 63 treated within 62 days from 97 referrals in September and 59 out of 95 in October 2021.

Prof Julian Redhead, of NHS England, said: “Despite the ongoing pressures on services – exacerbated by flu hospitalisations, issues in social care meaning we cannot discharge patients who are ready and record numbers needing A&E – staff have powered through to bring down some of our longest waits.”