More than 32,500 people on waiting list for non-urgent treatment in Northumbria Healthcare region

The King's Fund, a healthcare think tank, said NHS services were already in crisis and warned new Prime Minister Rishi Sunak that the situation was likely to worsen if budgets were cut.

NHS England figures show 32,556 patients were waiting for non-urgent elective operations or treatment at Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust at the end of September – down from 33,273 in August, but an increase on 25,220 in September 2021.

Of those, 11 had been waiting for longer than a year.

The median waiting time from referral at an NHS Trust to treatment at Northumbria Healthcare was 10 weeks at the end of September – up from nine weeks in August.

Nationally, 7.1 million people were waiting to start treatment at the end of September – a new record.

Siva Anandaciva, chief analyst at the King's Fund, said the government's fiscal statement will have a "profound impact on the quality and accessibility of health and care services".

"If NHS budgets keep being eroded by inflation, it is hard to see how ambitious government targets to reduce hospital waiting lists can possibly be achieved," Mr Anandaciva added.

"History has shown us that attempts to protect core NHS budgets at the expense of wider spending on social care, illness prevention and capital investment are short-sighted and can lead to greater pressure on services further down the line."

Separate figures show 1.6 million patients in England were waiting for a key diagnostic test in September – a rise on 1.5 million in August.

At Northumbria Healthcare, 9,755 patients were waiting for one of 13 standard tests, such as an MRI scan, non-obstetric ultrasound or gastroscopy at this time.

Of them, 467 (5%) had been waiting for at least six weeks.

And other figures show cancer patients at Northumbria Healthcare are not being seen quickly enough.

The NHS states 85% of cancer patients urgently referred by a GP should start treatment within 62 days.

But NHS England data shows just 75% of patients urgently referred by their GP who received cancer treatment at Northumbria Healthcare in September began treatment within two months of their referral.

That was down from 77% in August, but up from 73% in September 2021 last year.