Elective care waiting times have been cut by three times the national average by The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust (SaTH).

A new Referral to Treatment Waiting Times Dashboard launched this week shows the number of patients waiting for treatment fell by 30% year-on-year.

Over six in 10 patients (65.5%) receive treatment within 18 weeks, up by 17 percentage points year-on-year.

Ned Hobbs, chief operating officer, said: ‘The progress we have made is phenomenal and we are hugely proud of our clinical and operational teams who have worked tirelessly on improvements to reduce the length of time our patients are waiting for treatment. 

‘There is still more work for us to do, but we are striving to ensure that every patient has access to timely treatment. We are investing in additional urgent and emergency care capacity, and new equipment to further enhance productivity in outpatients, diagnostics and theatres.'

SaTH, which has reduced the number of patients waiting longer than a year for treatment by almost 98% since November 2024, is creating additional inpatient and acute assessment capacity at both Royal Shrewsbury Hospital and Princess Royal Hospital in Telford.

Dr Jess Sokolov, regional medical director for the NHS England in the Midlands, said: ‘Across the Midlands we have been working to bring diagnostic and planned services into more convenient community locations meaning hospitals can focus on patients who need urgent and emergency care.'