Places cut at hospital left waiting for patients

More than 100 beds are to close at a London hospital and thousands of patients kept off waiting lists because of NHS red tape, the Evening Standard has learned.

Hammersmith Hospitals NHS Trust say the beds will be closed, operating theatres will lie idle and medical staff will be redeployed because of a funding crisis at the three primary care trusts that pay for patients' treatment.

The hospital claims it has improved its performance so much that patients referred for operations can now be seen within three months - well inside the Government's six-month target.

But they will be denied the rapid care because it would place too great a burden on the trusts which have to pay for it.

Up to 2,000 patients in Hammersmith and Fulham, and Hounslow and Ealing, will now be forced to wait twice as long for non-urgent operations.

Derek Smith, chief executive of the hospital, said: "We have to limit the number of patients we treat to the number we will be paid for.

"It is a hopeless situation. We have made the health service in west London for patients much more efficient, more responsive, access is much quicker and we have much more capacity than we have ever had and now we can't treat them. It is very much a backwards step."

Dr Sally Hargreaves, chief executive of Hammersmith and Fulham Primary Care Trust, said she faced a £5million deficit unless patients were kept waiting for operations. Hounslow care trust is also facing an estimated £7.5 million deficit.

"Hammersmith Hospital can provide excellent services so people only have to wait a maximum of three months for operations - we can't afford that, as the national target is for everyone to be operated on within six months."

A spokesman for the Department of Health said: "This is an operational issue for the local NHS. We are confident that patients in northwest London experience waiting times that meet the current national target of nine months."

One patient told of her experience of delays at Hammersmith Hospital. Fiona Barry, 36, was informed by the hospital that she would have to wait at least a year for heart treatment so the former airline clerk from Twickenham decided to have the operation done privately at a cost of £4,000.

She was seen by a cardiac specialist within two days and operated on two weeks later.

She said: "I couldn't believe it when they told me how long I would have to wait. It is just not fair, there are thousands of people whose lives are being put at risk because of a lack of beds and not all of them have the option of private care."