PATIENTS are waiting more than twelve months for operations in Bury's hospitals for the first time in three years.

Bosses say bed-blocking is to blame and Fairfield and Bury General face "mayhem." Mr Phillip Bacon, chief executive of Bury Health Care NHS Trust, warned: "We will start seeing longer and longer waiting lists and we won't be able to admit patients for surgery at all because there is nowhere to put them.

"It's rotten for the patients and it's bad for the people waiting for operations.

"I have been saying this for months and no action has been taken. We are not looking for an extra ward. We want these patients to be taken out of hospital because they shouldn't be there. It's mayhem."

Orthopaedics operations are regularly cancelled at Fairfield and Bury General because there is nowhere for the patients to go. Beds are taken up by elderly people who no longer need treatment but are waiting for funding for a nursing or care home place.

This week there were 43 such patients in Bury's hospitals.

It is the first time since March,1994, that local people have had to wait more than a year for an operation.

Bury Health Care NHS Trust is regarded as one of the most efficient in the country and have managed until recently to keep waiting lists under control.

But Mr Bacon says while patients who don't need treatment are in hospital, it is impossible to keep lists down.

"We have had to cancel operations because there are no free beds and now the effects are starting to show.

"It's the main reason why we have people waiting for operations.

"If things get any worse there are going to be major problems."

Operations that are cancelled are elective and not urgent, usually affecting procedures such as hip replacements.

Patients are notified by a letter from the hospital chairman or by phone if cancellation is on the same day as the scheduled operation.

According to Mr Bacon: "Until recently this hospital has had an outstanding record of service which will be damaged by something outside our control."

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