Alan Milburn, the health secretary, yesterday presented further evidence that the extra money being poured into the NHS is failing to reduce the waiting list for inpatient treatment at hospitals in England.

According to the latest official statistics, the number of patients waiting at the end of February was 17,600 higher than 12 months before - an increase of 1.7%.

The figure was particularly disappointing because the mild winter and low levels of flu and bronchitis reduced the normal seasonal pressure of emergency admissions. This should have left hospitals free to crack on with treating patients from the waiting list.

At the end of February there were 1,050,400 patients waiting for non-emergency admission. This was 7,700 less than a month before when the government admitted that it was no longer honouring one of the main commitments in its 1997 election manifesto. Tony Blair came to power nearly five years ago promising to cut the in-patient waiting list by at least 100,000 from the 1,158,004 he inherited from the Conservatives.

Ministers have been concentrating since the election on eliminating exceptionally long waits and there was further progress on that front in February when the number waiting more than a year fell to 25,800. This was 12.7% down on January and 43.3% less than 12 months before.

The number waiting more than 15 months fell to 1,900. This was 38.9% down on January and 84.5% less than 12 months before.

A Department of Health spokesman said next month's figures would probably show NHS hospitals in England no longer had anyone waiting that long for treatment.