An NHS boss has said that patients should use health services properly as thousands struggle to see a doctor in the wake of the pandemic.

Pippa Nightingale, head of the North West University Healthcare NHS Trust, urged patients to use the NHS's full range of services and only seek hospital treatment when it's appropriate.

Nightingale, who took over as head of the trust on February 14, said people should go to pharmacists and GPs for advice, and only turn to hospitals when necessary to help clear the Covid backlog.

Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, she said: "My message to [the public] is people need to use the whole health system properly.

"They need to think about things they can do when they are unwell to manage their illness at home where it's safe to do that. They need to think about using the local pharmacists."

Acknowledging how difficult it can be to get an appointment, Nightingale said GPs should be used "appropriately" and added: "If anyone's unwell and they're afraid, they need to go to their GP and not put that off."

At the height of the pandemic, many non-urgent surgeries and treatments were cancelled as hospitals across the country focussed on treating Covid patients.

According to Nightingale, 50,000 patients are waiting for treatments and diagnosis at the trust which has four hospitals, including Northwick Park and Ealing hospitals.

NHS data shows that of those, over 450 patients have been waiting longer than a year. Nightingale warned that it would most likely take the NHS between two and three years to clear the pandemic backlog.

She said: "It's a challenge. But we're very committed to doing that every day. We absolutely will [clear the backlog]. I know that for some patients that doesn't feel fast enough, and I appreciate it, I think if I was one of those patients, I probably wouldn't feel it was fast enough. But we are absolutely doing everything we can to do this as quickly and safely as we can."

To clear the long list of patients waiting for elective surgeries, Nightingale said the trust had increased the number of operations they carried out. Whereas before operations took place in morning and afternoon slots five days a week, they are now carried out in morning, afternoon and evening slots seven days a week.

The trust also made the decision to earmark one of their hospitals, St. Marks, just for elective procedures due to its lack of A&E department, meaning that patient care could be streamlined more effectively. Nightingale said this has been particularly helpful for cancer patients who need immediate treatment.

NHS data shows, as of January, 21.8 per cent of cancer patients at the London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust didn't start treatment within two months of being diagnosed.

Despite the challenges clearing the backlog, Nightingale said the trust was looking to the future and had recently made large investments into their maternity, paediatric, urology and cancer services.