MORE than 800 patients have been waiting for hospital treatment in west Hertfordshire for a year or longer, according to latest available data.

National NHS targets say that the vast majority of patients – at least 92 per cent – should be treated within 18 weeks  of referral.

But latest data presented to a meeting of the West Herts Hospitals Trust board on December 2 shows that in October that figure was just 71.8 per cent.

Read more: Hundreds of patients in Herts waiting more than a year for hospital treatment

There were, according to the data, 878 patients who had been waiting for 52 weeks or longer. And there were 38 patients who were still waiting after two years.

According to the data, 75.4 per cent of patients were able to access diagnostic procedures within six weeks – compared to a national target of 99 per cent.

However the data also shows that when it comes to scheduled out-patient appointments patients fail to show up on 10.3 per cent of occasions – that’s one in every 10.