Milburn offers heart patients a bed abroad

A scheme to provide immediate treatment for patients awaiting heart bypass operations for more than six months began yesterday.

They will be offered a choice of having their treatment in the public or private sector, in this country or in Europe.

The Department of Health is negotiating with Spain over using its spare hospital capacity for heart surgery.

Some doctors have complained that the new Patient Choice scheme will distort priorities within the National Health Service.

But Alan Milburn, the Secretary of State for Health, defended it yesterday when he visited the James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough, where 130 patients have been waiting more than six months for heart surgery.

He said: "Waiting times are falling for heart surgery and are falling across the NHS, but some patients still wait too long and we will continue our efforts to reduce waiting times according to the NHS Plan.

"Today marks an important point on that journey as patients are offered the choice of quicker treatment." Officials at the Department of Health said last night that the scheme would eventually be extended to other areas of surgery.

More than 2,500 patients awaiting coronary surgery have already been contacted, inviting them to discuss their options and up to 1,000 extra patients will become eligible for the scheme each month.

If they choose to continue waiting for an operation at their local hospital, rather than going elsewhere in the country, they will be guaranteed surgery within 12 months.

The travel and hotel expenses of the patient and a family member will be met for those who choose surgery in a different part of the country or abroad. The scheme is being run as a trial in selected parts of England, with the focus on the South-east, which has some of the worst waiting lists in the country.

Dr Jim Hall, chief of cardiothoracic services at the James Cook University Hospital, said: "Unfortunately, not all patients will be eligible for this option, due to their clinical condition."