Seven-day working for surgeons

More patients are using Newcastle hospitals

Tyneside surgeons are being told to work seven days a week to combat growing waiting lists.

The Newcastle Hospitals NHS Trust says the move is needed to deal with a 20% rise in patient numbers and increased referrals from outside the area.

Some doctors say the switch from six to seven-day week operations will mean staff being put under even more pressure.

By trust chief executive Len Fenwick says it is the only way waiting list figures can be cut.

We still have to consider whether we will have enough hospital beds

Len Fenwick, chief executive

Mr Fenwick says more patients from outside the Tyneside area were using Newcastle hospitals because of specialist services, including heart surgery.

He said: "The only way we can improve our figures is to change to a seven day working week with a three day shift system.

"Although we will still have to consider whether we will have enough hospital beds."

In April and May, Newcastle's three hospitals had carried out 6,250 operations - 16% up on the same period in 2001.

Waiting times

But by the end of May, 1,465 people were still waiting for surgery - 517 of them longer than nine months.

The government says that by March 2003, no-one should be waiting more than nine months for heart surgery.

Newcastle's Freeman Hospital has been given a £2.5m boost for three new cardiac intensive care beds and 20 additional staff.

Jonathan Forty, senior heart surgeon at the trust, said: "The number of patients treated has increased by around 25% over the last two years and waiting times have reduced substantially.

"However, in Tyneside we have some of the country's highest rates of heart disease and this expansion will be a major boost for the region's health."