Covid has left a toxic legacy for the UK's NHS, with hospitals facing a huge backlog, putting lives at risk, patient groups and staff have warned.

 

Elaine Walsh was diagnosed with womb cancer in January.

 The 61-year-old, from Essex, was immediately classed as an urgent case - and should have been operated on within weeks.But her operation was canceled - because of the pandemic and the backlog it had caused.

 It was the most horrendous day", she says. Every day that I'm not on a surgical operating table, it is more of a risk." Elaine is now due to have surgery on Friday - but the wait has taken its toll.She has been seeing a psychologist to help her emotionally, while physically she has started to deteriorate.

I have got weaker," she says. I'm in more pain. Things I could do then, I can't now.Elaine's story is not unique.  Analysis by BBC News shows the numbers starting treatment within the target time have fallen during the pandemic.

And some trusts are struggling to start treatment for even half of patients in the recommended timeframe two months following an urgent referral from their GP For University Hospitals Birmingham, that proportion is well under a half. It has seen performance deteriorate despite sending patients to be treated in local private hospitals.The trust has treated more Covid patients than any other in the country - more than 14,000 have been admitted since the start of the pandemic, leading to the redeployment of 1,500 staff locally.

 Like others, it says the disruption has been unavoidable - and it is now "working hard" to have patients diagnosed and treated.

 But it has found not all the delays are caused by the disruption to services.About one in every four of the patients waiting the longest has postponed treatment themselves - and nurses at the trust have been phoning and pleading with them to have treatment.This reluctance to come forward coupled with problems accessing GP and screening services at points in the pandemic is the reason why the number of patients coming forward for checks and being diagnosed has dropped - although there are now signs the numbers are rising.Nonetheless, analysis by Macmillan Cancer Support suggests across the UK there are 45,000 "missing" cancer patients. And the charity fears this will lead to more later-stage diagnoses, which reduce the chances of survival.