A mother has spoken of her distress at seeing her 14-year-old daughter suffer in pain after waiting more than a year for spinal surgery.

Jessica, from Hackness, near Scarborough, had been scheduled for an operation to treat her scoliosis in September, but it was cancelled with less than 24 hours' notice.

Her mother spoke out as figures show the total number of cases awaiting admission for surgery or procedures across hospitals in North, South and West Yorkshire has increased by a third since 2021.

Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust (LTHT) has apologised to Jessica and said it was "working urgently" to ensure her surgery takes place as soon as possible.

Jessica said her condition, which has caused her spine to become s-shaped, has become "really painful" and made going to school increasingly difficult.

"It's like you're getting stabbed in the side of your chest," she said.

"It's like when you wake up with really bad back pain and you can't sit down or anything – it feels like that, but 10 times worse."

Jessica was first added to the NHS waiting list for spinal fusion surgery in August 2025, after seeing a consultant privately.

She was then scheduled for surgery on 25 September, but her family received a call from LTHT the afternoon before the operation to cancel it.

By this time, the family had already travelled to Leeds and paid for hotel accommodation so they could be nearby.

Jessica's mum, Rebecca, said she was "shocked" that it was cancelled at such short notice after they had waited so long.

"It was just a man from theatre to say the operation is cancelled. There was no real reason other than staffing problems," she said.

Six weeks after Jessica's surgery was cancelled - and after being contacted by the BBC - the Leeds trust wrote to the family offering a new operation date at the end of January.

Rebecca said she had been left "frustrated" by the process of trying to rearrange surgery and the effect of the long waits on Jessica's health.

"I can see it's getting worse," she said.

"We know from the X-rays that it has progressed quite significantly and it's now affecting her ribs, her walk, her stance.

"All of that is getting worse as time goes on."

Jessica's experience comes amid continuing pressures affecting hospitals across Yorkshire.

Analysis of NHS data by the BBC has revealed the number of cases awaiting admission for surgery or a procedure at 10 hospital trusts across North, South and West Yorkshire has increased by around a third since 2021.

In August 2026, there were more than 63,000 cases awaiting treatment across 11 surgical specialties, compared with almost 48,000 in August 2021.

More than half of these cases had waited longer than the 18 weeks patients should expect from their initial referral.

However, there have been some improvements, with the proportion of cases waiting longer than 18 weeks falling from 60% in August 2023 to 55% in August 2026.

The number waiting more than a year has also fallen by almost two-thirds since 2021, although more than 2,800 cases were still waiting longer than 52 weeks in August 2026.

The figures do not include children's specialist services or Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, which has not submitted data since June 2025.

Bea Taylor, from the health think tank The Nuffield Trust, said the challenge facing the NHS nationally to deal with waiting lists "cannot be understated".

"What we're noticing from the new government is that they have their sights set on winter pressures, maternity care, and the abolishment of NHS England," she said.

"I think when we're facing strikes and the up-coming winter season, it's going to be really hard for the government to keep their focus on the waiting list in the way that they did at the beginning of this year."

A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care said: "Since this government came to office, we have made progress in cutting waiting times for patients across the country.

"Despite record demand, waiting lists are down by over 251,000 since July 2024 and fewer patients are waiting longer than 18 weeks than last year.

"But we know there is more to do.

"That's why we have opened more evening and weekend clinics, new community diagnostic centres, expanded surgical hubs, delivering millions of extra GP appointments, putting more staff on the front line, so patients can get diagnosed and treated faster.

"We continue to invest in dedicated elective surgical hubs to expand capacity, with 26 brand new spaces opening since 2024, and more due next year."

Meanwhile, referring to Jessica's specific case, Tim Hiles, chief operating officer at LTHT, said he was "truly sorry" for the short notice cancellation and for "the distress this has caused".

He said: "Leeds receives referrals from all over Yorkshire and Humber for this specialist surgery and our consultant surgeons prioritise the most urgent cases.

"We only take the difficult decision to cancel surgery when absolutely necessary and we are very aware of the huge impact this has on our patients.

"We recognise this does not reduce the upset caused by the delay, and we are working urgently to ensure Jessica's surgery takes place as soon as possible."

Jessica must now wait until January for the surgery she hopes will correct her spine.

"I just want to get it over and done with," she said.

"I don't want any pain anymore."

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