OPERATING theatres and hospital clinics are to open from eight till late as part of a drive to slash waiting times over the next four years.

Chief executive John Thomas, of Blackburn, Hyndburn and Ribble NHS Trust, said they wanted to ditch the nine-to-five in favour of 12-hour days for almost every department on Mondays to Thursdays.

The move comes after local Trust were offered an extra £1million a year for five years to hire extra staff, but realised local hospitals did not have room for them during normal shifts.

The Trust may also consider a seven-day week in the future in order to make best use of the new resources.

And an NHS North West spokesman said Blackburn Infirmary, Queens Park and Accrington Victoria are believed to be the first in Britain to adopt the system, designed to see more patients, faster.

As part of the NHS plan, the Government is offering extra cash to health authorities across the country.

The new opening hours are meant to help the Trust meet the Government's new targets of a maximum three month wait for outpatient appointments and a maximum six month wait for inpatient treatment by 2005.

At present, only 81 per cent of outpatients are seen within three months and only 81 per cent of inpatients are seen within six months by the Trust. It says it needs about 40 more doctors, radiologists and specialists to meet the targets, along with dozens of extra nurses, receptionists, lab staff and other support workers.

Mr Thomas said: "This is a fundamental change in the way we work. More staff will require extra outpatient rooms, operating theatres and beds. We want to benefit from the extra resources the NHS plan brings, but we are pretty well full. If we extend the hours, we can effectively work two more days a week and get more out of our facilities."

Mr Thomas said senior doctors and managers had backed the plans, which are planned to start in the autumn with oral surgery and stomach surgery during the evenings, as well as outpatient clinics for stomach, oral and heart conditions.

By March 2005, 39 consultants' clinics and 17 theatre sessions are due to be held during the evenings every week. They will deal with all kinds of non-urgent surgery from sterilisations and hip operations to gallstones and hernias.

The plans will now be presented to the NHS Commissioners who will have the final say.

Mr Thomas said: "If this is approved, it will form the basis of vastly improved services over the next five years."

Although the Queen's Park Hospital extension, which will replace Blackburn Royal Infirmary, will provide more space in five years, the 12-hour days are likely to stay.

Unison branch secretary for the Trust, Karen Narramore, said she was happy with the move as long as existing staff were not forced to change their working hours. She said: "We may consider the possibility of working paid overtime at higher rates, but we haven't got as far as discussing that."

Nigel Robinson, chief officer of the Community Health Council, said the changes were long overdue.

He said: "Hospitals have worked Monday to Friday, nine to five, for far too long. There's a lot of money standing idle in hospitals for the greater amount of time.