Consultants say they work extremely long hours - but these figures do not fit with the findings of an Audit Commission report.

The British Medical Association says the findings are "seriously out of date" and the NHS gets an extremely good deal from its consultants.

Health Which? tried to find how much time 60 NHS consultants in three different specialities - ear, nose and throat, ophthalmology and orthopaedics - spent on private work.

For each speciality, it picked 10 consultants with some of the longest NHS waiting lists and 10 with some of the shortest.

A researcher, posing as a relative of a patient who wanted to be seen privately, rang their secretaries, and asked which days they were available for private consultations and which days they set aside for private operations.

On average, the consultants set aside more than two half-days a week for private consultations and operations.

Waiting list implications

Across the group as a whole, there did not seem to be a link between private work and the length of a consultant's NHS waiting list.

British Medical Association: "Doctors work hard for the NHS"

However, when the researchers looked at how the specialities compared, they found the orthopaedic consultants in their research had longer NHS waits than the ENT or ophthalmic consultants, and they set aside 10% more time to do private work than consultants in the other two specialities.

"Our research doesn't provide the answers - the fact that consultants pencil off certain times for potential private work doesn't mean that that's what they actually end up doing," the report says.

"But it's hard to see how consultants can fulfil all their NHS duties if they do actually work the amount of time they make themselves available for private work."

The report says a waiting list expert, Dr John Yates, published research into the issue in 1995.

He hired private detectives to follow consultants and see exactly where they spent their time, it says.

He concluded that most British surgeons were spending between one and three half-days per week in the private sector, which he regarded as "excessive".

Doctors dismiss claims

The BMA said new data on consultants' working hours and work intensity had been gathered independently for the Doctors' and Dentists' Review Body.

The implication that private care was a cause of lengthening NHS waiting lists was "simply not proven", the association said.

"The NHS is treating record numbers of patients each year and is redoubling its efforts through the waiting list initiatives. There is a limit on further expansion, but that is due to finite funding, operating theatres, beds and staff.

A Department of Health spokesman said that negotiations on a new contract for NHS consultants would begin later this month.

Health Minister Alan Milburn said it must be in the interests of patients and the hard-working majority of consultants to root out abuses where a minority of consultants seemed to putting their private practice first.