Trust refuses to treat patients

The trust runs all of the major hospitals in Leeds

One of the biggest hospitals in the country will refuse to accept new patients so it can meet the government's waiting list targets.

Managers at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust say they will only accept referrals from GPs if they are sure patients can be seen within 17 weeks.

That is the maximum time patients should wait for an outpatient appointment under government targets.

GPs have attacked the move, accusing the trust of fiddling waiting lists.

Missed stars

Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust was awarded two stars in this year's NHS ratings.

The trust narrowly missed out on the top rating of three stars. This was partly because its waiting times for outpatient appointments were too long.

The proposals as they stand are not acceptable Dr Jonathon Adams, North East Leeds PCT

Three years ago, the hospital was "named and shamed" by the government because of its long waits. An action team was sent in to tackle the problem.

The trust has now written to GPs in Leeds to tell them it will not accept new patients if it means it will breach the outpatient waiting time targets set by the government.

In a letter to GPs, the trust warned that patients may have to go elsewhere.

"We will accept a referral only when we have the capacity to see the patient within the maximum waiting time - which is currently 17 weeks for outpatients by 31 March 2004.

"We may be unable to accept a referral from your practice.

"In this event, the referral will be returned securely to your PCT [primary care trust] within one working day, enabling the PCT to determine with you what alternative arrangements need to be made to ensure that your patient is seen quickly."

The trust denied it was trying to fiddle its waiting times.

"This is not all about waiting times," a spokeswoman told BBC News Online.

"This is about managing the number of people coming into the trust and improving planning.

"We are working with PCTs so that they know when hospital departments have reached capacity."

However, the policy looks set to affect thousands of patients living in and around Leeds, who may have to travel much further for treatment.

Have your say: Is decision a bitter pill for patients?

The trust is responsible for all of the major hospitals in the city. These include St James University Hospital and Leeds General Infirmary.

It received over 30,000 referrals from GPs in the first three months of this financial year alone.

Plans under fire

Dr Jonathon Adams, a GP in the city and a member of North East Leeds PCT, criticised the move.

"GPs are very, very much against it," he told BBC News Online.

"They were universally condemned at a meeting of the local medical committee recently.

"It would mean referring patients to hospitals outside Leeds. We don't have capacity to treat these patients in primary care.

"The proposals as they stand are not acceptable."

The Conservatives criticised the policy. Shadow health secretary Liam Fox said: "This is a shocking indictment of Tony Blair and John Reid.

"Labour has utterly corrupted the values on which the NHS was founded.

"Ministers boast that they want to treat patients according to clinical need. Who are they trying to kid?

"Tony Blair's new catchphrase should be 'care for all who need it - as long as it doesn't force the government to publish unhelpful statistics'."