The trust, which runs Princess Royal Hospital in Telford and Royal Shrewsbury Hospital, said no children or young people were waiting longer than a year for treatment.

Ned Hobbs, chief operating officer, said: ‘We remain humble, and know we have much more to do to ensure all our patients are receiving timely elective care, however, we are moving in the right direction and towards our ambition of delivering excellent care for everyone.

‘We are incredibly proud of our teams who have contributed to improving access to planned care and we want to thank them for their hard work which is reducing waiting times and improving the experience for our patients.'

Milestones include: no children or young people waiting in excess of 52 weeks for planned treatment; no patients waiting in excess of 65 weeks for planned treatment; and the number of patients waiting more than 52 weeks for elective treatment cut by more than 75%.

The trust also carried out 1,606 elective procedures in June, the highest number of patients treated in one month since October 2017.

More operations and outpatient appointments are being delivered through: the introduction of a new elective theatres timetable; increasing the number of outpatient appointments, which are also scheduled further in advance; opening a Planned Care Hub (high volume, low complexity day case surgery) at Princess Royal Hospital in Telford, with more than 5,570 patients now treated; a successful inaugural High Intensity Theatre list, with more planned patients; and investment in new digital tools such as the Dr Doctor patient engagement portal.