The acute hospital trust delivered a reduction of 22,700 patients in the year, according to NHSE statistics, while the national waiting list came down by 143,827.

The trust said it had achieved ‘significant and disproportionate' waiting list reductions through a four-pronged strategy:

• -          delivering 131,000 and 16,000 more outpatient and day-case and inpatient operations, up 11% and 12%, respectively
• -          improving waiting list management and communication, validating 80% of waiting list in past 12 weeks
• -          transferring around 8,000 patients to other local providers with capacity by establishing an Elective Care Coordination hub
• -          working with Sussex ICB so that more patients can be seen in a community setting with 1,800 patients transferred since September 2024 through a new Community Ear Nose and Throat service.

Chief executive Dr George Findlay said: ‘Our teams are working extraordinarily hard, into evenings and weekends, to see as many patients as safely and swiftly as possible.

‘But colleagues aren't just working harder – they're working smarter too. We've introduced new services, improved our data quality, and worked closely with other providers with the capacity to see some patients more quickly.'

University Hospitals Sussex is also receiving support from NHS England's Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) improvement programme to address waiting times for the Trust's most challenged specialities.

Professor Tim Briggs, NHS England national director for elective recovery, and GIRFT programme chair, said: ‘We've been impressed with how University Hospitals Sussex executive team have positively engaged with our team.

‘We are seeing demonstrable change, including a10.5% reduction in their overall referral to treatment time waiting list over the past six months. We have confidence in the team continuing to deliver improvements while recognising the scale of the challenges they are managing.'