Almost half a million on hospital waiting list

BUT THERE IS OPTIMISM AS FIGURES ARE FINALLY DROPPING ACROSS REGION

- HELENA VESTY

NEARLY half a million people are still waiting for treatment with almost 30,000 for more than a year.

But there is hope as waiting lists are falling in the region. There were a total of 497,015 people on the waiting lists at trusts in our cityregion in June, according to the latest data.

That's down from 498,079 people in May and 523,488 people the same time last year. It's still more than double the 236,647 people in February 2019 though, just before the Covid pandemic.

Some 27,688 people on waiting lists in Greater Manchester have been on there for more than a year.