Hospitals warn key waiting time target for NHS operations 'will never be met again'

NHS hospital trusts have warned it will be impossible to meet a key waiting time target for elective operations this winter.Under the NHS Constitution, 92% of patients awaiting planned procedures such as knee and hip surgery are meant to be treated within 18 weeks.The target has not been met since December 2016, and with more than four million people on the waiting list across England, there are warnings it will never be met again.