A HOSPITAL trust closed its doors to new patients so it could meet Government waiting time targets, the M.E.N. can reveal.

Since last October GPs have been unable to refer patients needing routine knee operations to Stepping Hill Hospital in Stockport.

Hospital bosses removed themselves from the electronic booking system because they had a high number of referrals and were worried they wouldn't meet a new target to treat people within 18-weeks of their GP appointment.

Stockport MP Ann Coffey is horrified by the move and she asked Health Minister Ben Bradshaw and North West health chiefs to intervene. Stepping Hill is now set to start taking new patients again in March, a month earlier than planned.

Anne Barnes, director of operations and performance at Stepping Hill wrote to Ms Coffey in December saying: "It is with considerable regret that we have closed to new patients for knee conditions. We had tried to recruit a locum knee surgeon to cope with the very high numbers of referrals but were unable to recruit.

"I hope we can look to reopen lists in the Spring when we are able to sustain provision of services for knee patients within national access timescales."

The trust say they continued to treat patients who need operations urgently or had other complicating illnesses like diabetes or heart disease.

Unacceptable

Ms Coffey said: "I was horrified to hear Stockport patients were being referred to other hospitals in the area, it is completely unacceptable.

"This was something Stockport PCT and the foundation trust decided they would do because it would help them meet targets, but as I said to them it is not the Government's intention to deny my constituents the choice of hospital in order to meet targets the intention of the targets is to enable them to provide better services.

"I discovered the PCT and the foundation trust had signed a contract which enabled the foundation trust to withdraw services when they wanted to but this will soon be replaced by a national contract which will make this impossible - although neither regional health managers or Mr Bradshaw had heard of this happening elsewhere."

Stepping Hill is one of the top centres in the region for Orthopaedic care and to cope with the extra demand they have now recruited two specialist knee surgeons.

Currently patients are waiting an average of six weeks for knee surgery at Stepping Hill.

Stockport PCT sent patients to hospitals across the region, to the independent surgical centre and to private treatment centres for their operations.

A spokeswoman for Stockport PCT said: "We are working with Stepping Hill to enable the reopening of services for patients with orthopaedic knee problems and the current thinking is that this will be available from the beginning of March.

"Over the period that routine services have been unavailable at Stepping Hill the PCT has worked to ensure patients have been offered treatment elsewhere."

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