A RECORD number of patients had been waiting a year or more for routine treatment at Bolton Trust in February, figures reveal.

The Nuffield Trust said the record size of the NHS waiting list across England shows the health service has been set back years by the coronavirus pandemic and now faces a "major backlog".

NHS rules state that patients referred for non-urgent consultant-led elective care should start treatment within 18 weeks.

But NHS statistics show 3,104 patients listed for elective operations or treatment at Bolton NHS Foundation Trust at the end of February had been waiting for at least a year – 12% of all those on the waiting list.

This was a huge increase from 10 the year before, and the highest figure for the month of February since comparable records began in 2012.

The Nuffield Trust said the strain of the backlog on patients should not be underestimated, but added it is no surprise given the pandemic's hospitalisation rates.

Overall, 25,409 people were waiting to start hospital treatment at Bolton Trust at the end of February – an increase of 240 on February 2020.