HEALTH chiefs announced this week that waiting lists for surgery had fallen to their lowest level since Morecambe Bay Hospitals NHS Trust was formed in 1998, reports Michaela Robinson-Tate.

By December 2004, there were 4,408 people waiting for non-urgent surgery for both in-patient and day case treatments at hospitals in Kendal, Lancaster and Barrow.

This compares with more than 6,500 people who were waiting in 1998.

The figures were among a number of successes announced by trust chiefs.

They said there were now only 300 people waiting more than six months for in-patient and day case treatment, and no one waiting longer than nine months.

Back in April 1998, there were 1,627 people waiting longer than six months and 708 waiting longer than nine months.

In what trust bosses said was excellent news for patients coping with impaired vision, there is now no one waiting longer than three months for cataract surgery. Waiting times in 1998 were a maximum of 18 months.

There was also good news in out-patients waiting times, as there is no one waiting longer than 17 weeks for an appointment, and 421 people waiting longer than 13 weeks. Four years ago there were 2,343 people waiting longer than 13 weeks.

Trust chief operating officer Kevin McGee said the figures were "excellent news".

"There are massive differences," he said. "It's a real compliment to the staff and the way they work."

Mr McGee said the trust treated all patients on the basis of clinical priority, and so there had not been any adverse effects to slashing the waiting lists. However, there was a lot of pressure for staff.

He said that more money had been pumped into the system, which had allowed the trust to recruit more nurses, doctors and consultants.

The trust had also become more efficient, said Mr McGee, who cited weekend and evening working and an increase in procedures, like cataract surgery, that could be performed as day cases.

He said the trust now needed to improve its waiting lists for people who were referred directly by their GPs to services such as physiotherapy and occupational therapy.

He added that the trust was now gearing up for an even tougher target.

By 2008, no one must wait longer than a total of 18 weeks from the time of referral by their GP, to when they had the appropriate out-patient or in-patient treatment.

l At the end of December 2004, the trust also met a Government target that 98 per cent of patients who attend A&E should wait less than four hours from arrival to admission, transfer or discharge.