Tens of thousands of patients were waiting for routine treatment at the Salisbury Trust in April, figures show.

Recently released figures reveal that, as of April, 26,360 patients were waiting for non-urgent elective operations at Salisbury District Hospital.

This number is slightly down from the 26,712 patients waiting in March, but in April 2022, only 18,829 patients were waiting, showing a sharp increase during the 12-month period.

The statistics also show that 918 people had been waiting for more than a year, and 1,170 people had been waiting longer than six weeks for one of 10 standard tests, such as an MRI scan, non-obstetric ultrasound or gastroscopy.

Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust said the hospital is taking multiple measures to address the issue.

A spokesperson said: “The team is doing everything it can to work within very difficult circumstances, which includes working weekends and trying to be inventive about keeping operating theatres open for longer.”

They added both covid and industrial action have contributed to the backlog, especially with non-urgent procedures.

He said: “We’ve focused down on urgent and critical care during periods of industrial action, so that is contributing to our difficulties in addressing backlogs. We want to, as a trust, always give people the best possible care we can and as quickly as possible, but we’re dealing with a number of extraordinary events over the last few years.”