Kingston says most year-plus elective waits have already been treated

But a report to the board of directors said: “Whilst there appear to be a number of long waiting patients, the current validation of these patients shows that most have already been treated and need to be removed from the waiting list.”

A report to the chief executive said 18-week referral to treatment pathways “remain a challenging target”.

“July and August performance for patients on an admitted pathway has been over 90 per cent (the national target). Much work is underway in addressing the non-admitted pathway,” the report said.

It added: “Staff retraining is well underway and operational teams have increased capacity where necessary to ensure patient waits are minimal.”