The number of patients waiting to be treated at West Hertfordshire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust has more than doubled since 2019.

In May, 53,090 people waited for care, up from 25,822 in the same month last year and 23,563 in May 2019, before the pandemic.

NHS guidance says trusts should aim for 92% of patients to be seen within 18 weeks, but this target has not been met nationally since 2016.

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In May, just 64% of patients who started treatment at the trust had been on the waiting list for less than 18 weeks, while more than 300,000 (5%) people started treatment after waiting for at least a year.

At West Hertfordshire Teaching Hospitals Trust, 58% of the patients who began treatment in May had been waiting up to 18 weeks – down from 83% before the pandemic.

Performance is also a problem at the trust’s A&E department.

NHS guidance states that 95% of patients attending A&E should be admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours.

At West Hertfordshire Teaching Hospitals Trust, just 32% of 7,780 A&E patients were dealt with within four hours.

This was down from 69% in 2019, before the pandemic.

The trust’s chief operating officer, Sally Tucker, said: “We’re very sorry when any patient experiences delay to their treatment.

“We continue to expand capacity where possible and are grateful to staff for providing additional clinics or running extra surgical or procedure lists to support our backlog recovery programme.”

She added that the A&E department is experience a high number of walk-ins and ambulance arrivals.

Ms Tucker said: “High attendances are compounded by the need to maintain safe pathways of care for Covid and non-Covid patients, which makes it harder to move patients through our hospitals.

“This can lead to longer than expected waits in the emergency department.

“Additionally, discharge delays for patients who might be waiting for packages of care in the community add to patient flow pressures and wait times.”

She urged people to help by accessing services appropriately, attend appointments, and by contacting NHS 111 first for urgent care so that they can be directed to the best local service.

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