The number of patients waiting six months or more for surgery has tripled over the past four years in England, the Royal College of Surgeons has said.
In March, nearly 130,000 people had been waiting for operations after being referred to a consultant, compared with 45,000 in March 2013.
But nine out of 10 patients were still treated within 18 weeks, data shows.
NHS England said it had cut the number of patients waiting more than a year for treatment.
A spokeswoman said: “The NHS has cut the number of patients waiting more than a year for treatment by nearly 13,000 over the past five years, and spending on non-urgent surgery is continuing to rise.”
However, the surgeons said they were concerned that many more patients would wait longer for surgery in the future.
For full story see BBC News 2 June 2017