HEALTH trusts in East Lancashire are celebrating after meeting Government waiting list targets.

The East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust manages the main hospitals in the area, and together with the area's three primary care trusts revealed that all key waiting list and access targets for patients have been met for the past year.

Patients are now waiting no longer than 17 weeks for an appointment following referral from their GP and no more than nine months for surgery.

From July 2003 to March 2004 92.55 per cent of patients were treated in Accident and Emergency Departments in four hours, exceeding the target of 90 per cent.

Richard Gildert, Acting Chief Executive of East Lancashire Hospitals Trust, said: " This is a major achievement for the Trust. I would like to thank all our staff who worked extremely hard to achieve these challenging targets.

"I would also like to thank the other health care and social service organisations within East Lancashire for their support in this tremendous achievement.

"We will continue to work together to make real improvements in healthcare for the people of East Lancashire."