Health chiefs defy charter

A health authority is threatening to break the Patient's Charter by delaying operations for more than 18 months to make ends meet, a leaked memorandum shows.

The internal memorandum from Hammersmith Hospitals Trust says Merton, Sutton and Wandsworth health authority "do not want any of their non-clinically urgent patients to be admitted until further notice, even where this results in patients waiting in excess of 18 months".

Chris Smith, shadow health secretary, said: "Patients all over London and the Home Counties are now going to have to wait until next spring for treatment because of the madness of the internal market the Tories have imposed."