A regional NHS trust has seen the number of people waiting over four hours for treatment in A&E more than double since last year.

East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust (ESNEFT) saw the number jump from 2,351 people to 6,272 between June 2021 and June 2022.

The majority of these patients waited over four hours in major A&E, with the unit seeing a spike from 2,321 to 6,067 in the same time frame.

Data is calculated based on the number of people waiting longer than four hours from arrival to admission, transfer or discharge.

A&E departments across England saw an alarming spike in waiting times last month, with NHS England data showing worse figures than any "winter crisis" on record.

This comes despite June typically being a month when the NHS is less busy.

ESNEFT runs Ipswich and Colchester Hospitals and typically faces some of the highest demand in the area.

In total, the trust saw a spike from 21,138 A&E patients in June 2021 to 25,119 in 2022.

This means that, despite the jump, the majority of people were still seen in less than four hours.

Deputy chief executive at ESNEFT, Neill Moloney said: “In the past year we have been seeing more and more very sick people who need our care and treatment and there’s no doubt the ongoing impact of the Covid-19 pandemic has been a factor.

“However, keeping our promises to patients and reducing the amount of time they spend in A&E is very important to us.

"Our teams assess and prioritise each patient clinically, so those with the most urgent needs are seen first, but this does mean some people have waited longer than we’d have liked them to.

“We continue to work closely with teams across the health and social care sector to make sure only those patients who really need to be in hospital are those who are in a hospital bed at ESNEFT.

"That way we can make sure we treat and admit or discharge people from A&E as quickly and safely as possible.”

Figures for West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust were unavailable as a result of the Bury St Edmunds hospital's participation in a pilot scheme that does not require the trust to collect or report on the data in the same way.