Basildon and Thurrock Hospital has ranked among the lowest in the country when it comes to meeting waiting time targets for cancer care and planned operations.

Following a BBC investigation, which looked at the figures for NHS Trusts all over the country, Basildon and Thurrock Hospital NHS Trust came as the 8th worst in the nation for meeting waiting time targets for cancer care and the 10th worst for meeting waiting time targets for planned operations.

They only managed to provide cancer care to 72.4 per cent of patients within the required time of 62 days when their target is 85 per cent.

They also only managed to meet the planned operation waiting time of 18 weeks for 82.3 per cent of patients when their target is 92 per cent.

In addition to these, they also failed to meet their target of seeing A&E patients within 4 hours by 3.8 per cent - although they scored well in this category compared to other Trusts.

Basildon and Thurrock Hospital are not the only NHS Trust in the country to be missing targets - in fact, most have.

Hospitals across the UK are under immense pressure to hit high targets whilst also dealing with financial cut backs and rising patient numbers.

Clare Culpin, managing director of Basildon and Thurrock University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We are working tirelessly to ensure all patients receive their treatment in a timely way and believe these are important quality indicators

“In respect of the A&E four hour transit time target we have delivered 90 per cent or above in four out the six months since the start of the new financial year, which is a steady improvement.

"We have seen an increase in the number of patients during that period compared to last year, despite this we are treating more patients within 4 hours than before and we are currently above the national average.

“Clearly we also need to care for our patients who are waiting for planned operations and cancer care.

"There is a great deal of focus on this area of patient care by all members of the team at the hospital, and we review our cancer patient list and waiting list every day.

"As a result over the past few months we have reduced the number of patients waiting.

“I would like to reassure our patients that we working very hard to continue to improve our services.

“The winter is always busy and therefore we have been planning very carefully how we will care for our emergency patients, and continue the improvements in reducing our waiting times.

"Things such as ensuring we have beds available for those who need them most, and by working with our colleagues in the community to avoid unnecessary patient admissions to the hospital or delaying any discharges.

“We also seek support from local people and ask that they look after themselves during this winter, for example those who are most vulnerable have a flu jab and that we all use our available community services, including some of the really great local pharmacists.

"This would definitely help us and is greatly appreciated.”