PEOPLE waiting for cataract operations in East Lancashire have received another massive boost.

Mobile surgeries, run by a team of South Africans, will treat hundreds of patients across the area over the next five years.

The announcement comes a month after East Lancashire's hospitals were given almost £1million to cut waiting times for a cataract operations down to three months by December 2004.

Although exact details have yet to be worked out, it is likely the surgeries will travel to places such as Burnley General and Queen's Park in Blackburn, from January 2004.

Around 1,400 patients across Lancashire and Cumbria will be treated every year for the next five years to slash waiting lists.

At the moment, in the two counties, there are 3,285 people on waiting lists of three months or less, with 1,382 patients on waiting lists between three and six months.

Chief Executive of Cumbria and Lancashire Strategic Health authority Pearse Butler said: "This is another ground-breaking and innovative way forward which means that additional staff and facilities will be available to treat NHS patients locally.

"It will reduce the time that patients will have to wait for surgery.

"The mobile ophthalmology unit will offer state-of-the-art, modern facilities and for many patients, this will cut down on travelling times to hospital for their operation."

The South African team from Netcare have just finished a successful £2million scheme giving hip and knee replacement operations to 338 people in Cumbria and Lancashire - 60 of them from East Lancashire. The mobile surgeries will complement funding announced in August, when hospitals in East Lancashire were given £930,000 to bring down waiting times to as little as six weeks.

The money is being used for a new opthalmology consultant, equipment and other ways to cut waiting times, such as using the private sector, are being investigated.

A hospitals spokeswoman said: "Our target is to reduce waiting lists down to six months by March 2004 and to three months by August 2004."