A grandad who successfully battled cancer is the latest patient to be told they must wait three years for a hospital appointment.
Stunned Andrew Jones, 61, won't be seen at Princess Royal Hospital before June 2025.
Mr Jones thought there was a typo on the letter he received on Saturday but was horrified to discover his appointment is correct - and he now has a 31 month wait.
His confirmation arrived days after a 16-year-old boy was told he wouldn't been seen for 950-days for his "urgent" NHS appointment for a urology-related problem.
It comes as the Tories outline their battle plan to reduce the current eye-watering waiting lists.
Mr Jones, from Bridgnorth, Shropshire, says he was stunned after opening his letter and couldn't comprehend what he was reading.
"It is beyond belief really, I knew the NHS is in a state but I did not think it was that bad," he told the Express and Star.
"I got the letter this Saturday morning. I opened it and said to my partner 'this has got to be a typo, it has got to be 2023'.
"My partner said 'there are not a lot of things that stump you' but for a few minutes I was lost for words."
There are currently six million people on waiting lists for treatments such as hip and knee replacements, cataract surgery and tests. This compares to 4.4 million before the pandemic.
Local healthcare campaigner Alex Wagner told the BBC Radio Shropshire the matter was "astounding".
The Liberal Democrat councillor said: "This is possibly the worst case of the NHS backlog failing a patient that I have seen in a long time.
"To ask someone in need of urgent care to wait for three years is simply unacceptable, and is a damning example of the quality of the service in Shropshire."
The trust's trust's interim deputy chief operating officer Sheila Fryer said: ""This length of delay is rare and we would like to reassure you that we are doing everything we can, alongside partners, to reduce the amount of time patients are waiting for an appointment.
"We recognise that the current waits are not acceptable."
NHS England also intends to eliminate waits of more than a year and return to pre-pandemic levels of patients who have to wait more than 62 days for an urgent cancer referral.
But National Audit Office chief Gareth Davies said: “There are significant risks to the delivery of the plan. The NHS faces workforce shortages and inflationary pressures.”
It comes as Health Secretary Steve Barclay had to deny telling Treasury officials the NHS “could cope” without extra cash to cover inflation.
