A MINORITY of patients are waiting longer for treatment, but hospital bosses are on course to meet tough waiting list targets, health chiefs have been assured.

Members of the Blackburn, Hyndburn and Ribble Valley Healthcare NHS Trust board were due to discuss the latest waiting list figures at a meeting today.

A report to the board says most services are on target to meet inpatient and outpatient figures set for next spring by the Government.

But waiting lists for orthopaedic treatment and general surgery are still too long, it is reported.

At the end of June, 805 people were on the outpatient waiting list, just below the target of 821.

The figure which must be met in March is 66 and the report claims the trust was "on target" at the end of June.

The target for all inpatient and day case waiting lists for March 2000 is 4,727.

The figure at the end of July stood at 5,264.

That is above the trust's July target of 5,142, but down by 103 on the figures from March this year.

The report states: "For the past 18 months the trust has maintained the maximum inpatient waiting time below 12 months with the exception of a small number of patients. "This number has been growing slowly over recent months with particular problems in orthopaedics."

At the end of July the number of orthopaedic patients waiting for appointments was 51, more than double the previous month.

The report says a number of initiatives are being put in place to reduce pressure on the service, but outpatient referrals to orthopaedics are also rising.

The trust has been told to reduce the total number of patients awaiting admission by 5.7 per cent between April this year and March 2000.

Hospital bosses must reduce the number of outpatients waiting more than 13 weeks for an appointment to the same level as March 1998.

Consultants have also been ordered to reduce the length of time patients wait for clinic appointments.

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