London warning over NHS targets

The full extent of the chaos gripping London hospitals is revealed today in a stark demonstration of the NHS's struggle to meet government targets for waiting time cuts.

In south-west London almost 16,000 people are waiting for operations and out-patient appointments at St George's, Epsom and St Helier and Kingston hospitals - almost 4,000 more than the government target. Six hundred of those have been waiting for more than a year for operations - 225 more than the target - according to a report by Merton, Sutton and Wandsworth Health Authority which is published today.

Campaigners warn the same problems face hospitals across the capital. Geoff Martin of pressure group London Health Emergency said: "There must be thousands of people across the capital who are on NHS waiting lists when by government standards they should already have received treatment. We need urgent decisive action from the government now to tackle this crisis, not the promise of jam tomorrow." Numbers waiting for operations at St George's and at St Helier rose in October. But the biggest backlog is at St George's, in Tooting, where almost 4,500 people are waiting - 763 more than the target. There are particular delays in general surgery, gynaecology, plastic surgery and orthopaedics.

A further 3,000 people have been waiting for more than 13 weeks for an initial appointment with a consultant at St George's after being referred by their GP - more than 2,000 above the target. Well over a thousand of these have been forced to wait six months or more.

This is despite the fact that Merton, Sutton and Wandsworth Health Authority gave the trust £1 million to cut waiting times and the London office of the NHS Executive gave a further £350,000.

Epsom and St Helier NHS trust, branded the worst in the country earlier this year after a report by inspectors, has also received £520,000 to tackle queues. But more than 2,000 people have been waiting for more than 13 weeks for an outpatient appointment at the trust - more than double the target. Kingston hospital is ahead of target for in-patient treatment and day surgery, but slightly behind target for the numbers waiting more than a year.

John Parkes, director of operations at St George's Healthcare NHS Trust, said: "The Trust has recently received funds totalling £1.3 million from MSW Health Authority and the London Regional Office, in order to treat those who have waited the longest for surgery."

A spokeswoman for Epsom and St Helier NHS Trust said: "To enable us to reduce the time patients wait we have increased our available capacity." Janet Shepheard, Kingston's head or nursing, said the hospital was "on target to have no in-patient or day cases waiting for 15 months by the end of February 2002."

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