Croydon waiting times poorest in the country

10:33am Thursday 2nd August 2001

Croydon Health Authority has the worst record on treating trauma and orthopaedic patients in the whole of the NHS, new figures reveal.

A National Audit Office report on waiting lists published last week, which has exposed critical problems nationwide, said in Croydon 52 per cent of patients in this category had to wait six months for treatment, in the year up to March. In Dorset, it was only 1.2 per cent.

A spokesman for Croydon Health Authority said: “Mayday is currently recruiting two replacement consultants and two additional consultants in trauma and orthopaedics. In the short term we will be looking to use capacity in the private sector.”

A spokesman for health watchdog Croydon Community Health Council said: “If people are routinely suffering that amount of pain then something has to be done to improve waiting times for routine as well as urgent cases.”