PATIENTS are waiting longer for inpatient treatment in West Surrey than anywhere else in the country.
At the end of August more than one in ten (10.9 per cent) of West Surrey patients had waited more than a year for in-patient treatment - the lowest percentage was Dorset (0.1 per cent).
The figures have been supplied by health minister Hazel Blears following a written question from Virginia Bottomley.
West Surrey Health Authority has regularly recorded some of the worst waiting time figures in recent years and Mrs Bottomley said these latest figures were Òdeeply shockingÓ.
ÒYet again the government has been shown to fail the people of West Surrey. Why is the percentage of those on a waiting list in West Surrey a hundred times that of Dorset?
ÒSuch a gross inequality cannot and should not be tolerated,Ó said the West Surrey MP.
ÒIt is unacceptable in the modern day for anyone who needs treatment to wait more than one year after they have seen the consultant.Ó
In her response to Mrs BottomleyÕs written question, Hazel Blears pointed out that the governmentÕs NHS Plan aims to cut the maximum waiting time to six months for in-patient treatment and three months for out-patient appointments by 2005.
She added that West Surrey Health Authority has also set up plans to bring about improvements locally.