NHS waiting to be cut to 18 weeks

The target is to begin treatment within 18 weeks of referral

Patients are to begin treatment within 18 weeks after seeing their doctor under new NHS waiting list targets.

It is the first time the total wait from GP referral to treatment will be calculated as one.

Health minister Rosie Winterton said it would end "hidden waiting lists for things like diagnostic procedures".

The targets apply to Bedfordshire, Devon, Gateshead, Hunts, Kent, Notts, Oldham and south London, and will be used for all patients by December 2008.

Ms Winterton said: "This, coupled with the choice of hospitals now offered to all, will give patients the type of access only previously enjoyed by those who could afford to pay for it."

And it was a move that saw the NHS "stepping up to an even bigger challenge" after cutting the maximum wait for in-patient treatment to six months, she said.

'Fastest access'

"Some said it couldn't be done and the NHS has proved them wrong," she added.

The government said the "historic change" would deliver "fastest ever access" to treatment.

Individual hospitals were traditionally responsible for achieving waiting list targets, but this scheme involves primary care trusts ensuring health providers move patients through the system as quickly as possible.

Health trusts in the eight areas will begin by measuring existing referral-to-treatment times, and then reorganise systems so the "journey" takes place within 18 weeks.

Until this year, the NHS only measured parts of the journey, not including waits for procedures such as diagnostics.

And the government said while 18 weeks would be the maximum wait for the vast majority, most journeys would take less time.