It has been revealed that more than 10,000 people are on the waiting list for one Merseyside and West Lancashire NHS Trust.
The latest figures from the NHS website show that at the end of December 2021 there were 11,575 people on the waiting list at Southport and Ormskirk Hospital Trust, with 136 waiting more than a year for an appointment.
The government recently announced it intends to cut waiting lists down by 2024.
READ MORE: Australian cricketer Shane Warne dead at 52
The NHS Trust confirmed it is "working hard to get patients seen as quickly as possible" as the hospitals across the country have suffered at the hands of coronavirus.
Lesley Neary, Chief Operating Officer, said: "Our patients have historically had some of the shortest waits for planned care of any hospital in England.
"However, like most hospitals, waiting times have increased over the past two years because of the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
"We are working hard to get patients seen as quickly as possible based on their clinical priority. We hope to see the number of patients waiting for treatment reduce over the coming months."
West Lancashire MP Rosie Cooper, whose constituency is covered by the Trust, said: “Constituents in West Lancashire are being forced to wait months and months for treatment, often in pain and discomfort. Now the Government is telling them that, despite hiking up their national insurance, they will continue waiting longer for years to come.
“It is clear that the longer the Tories are in charge, the longer patients will wait.
“Our local health care staff at Southport and Ormskirk worked heroically throughout the pandemic, but they have been stretched like never before.
“The Government must give us the staff and support S&O needs to get patients the quality care they deserve, when they need it.”
Wes Streeting MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, added: “Record numbers of people are waiting for care and they are waiting longer than ever before, often in pain and distress.
“After a decade of Tory mismanagement, the NHS went into the pandemic with record waiting lists and staff shortages of 100,000. It’s not just that the Tories didn’t fix the roof when the sun was shining, they dismantled the roof and removed the floorboards.
“The Conservatives are so incompetent they’ve come up with a plan that sees patients paying more in tax but waiting longer for care.
“The longer we give the Conservatives, the longer patients will wait.
“The last Labour government reduced waiting times from 18 months to 18 weeks. The next Labour government will secure the future of our NHS, providing the staff it needs to treat patients on time.”
Receive newsletters with the latest news, sport and what's on updates from the Liverpool ECHO by signing up here
