A 96-YEAR-OLD is among the patients facing delays of up to 18 months for hip operations at the north's biggest health trust.
New figures show the Belfast health trust has the worst record for delays followed by the Western and Southern trusts.
It comes amid uproar after it emerged the number of patients waiting for appointments at Belfast's Musgrave Park Hospital has increased by 75 per cent in the last two years.
A total of 1,027 patients across four of the north's five health trusts – the Northern does not carry out the operation – are currently on waiting lists for hip replacements.
While most patients needing the surgery are in their sixties, the youngest is just 18-years-old. The longest wait for one patient is 82.9 weeks in the Belfast area, followed by 69.5 weeks in the Western and 54.8 in the Southern.
Orthopaedics is among the medical specialties severely affected by spiralling waiting lists, with hundreds of patients now choosing to go down the private route – where the bill for hip operations is £9,000.
Referrals to the north’s private clinics for orthopaedic operations, which also includes knee replacements, have risen by more than 20 per cent since the beginning of the year.
Patients must pay their private bill in advance.
The crisis has become more acute following a decision last August to axe private firms from carrying out NHS work.
While the health trusts were told to "temporarily pause" their reliance on the independent sector, it is highly unlikely that the contracts will resume in the foreseeable future due to budget shortages.
A total of £130 million has been paid to the private sector by the north’s health service over the past three years - a bill that has raised serious concerns about how senior NHS administrators manage the sector.
Ross Hussey, Ulster unionist assembly member for west Tyrone, obtained the latest waiting list figures through a written assembly question.
The Department of Health target for inpatient operations and daycase procedures states that at least 80 per cent of patients should be treated within 13 weeks - and no patient should wait longer than 26 weeks.
"This is an appalling situation and is even worse than I feared," Mr Hussey said.
"I have been approached by a number of constituents who are on waiting lists and who are in a lot of pain. The majority of people requiring this surgery are pensioners and it is having a severely debilitating impact on their lives.
"Surely our health service managers can organise the NHS more efficiently in relation to theatre space?"
A leaked draft commissioning plan to The Irish News last month on the future of the health service for 2015/16 estimates that one in ten of the population (170,000) will face delays of at least a year for their first appointment with a consultant by March next year.
A spokeswoman for the Belfast Trust said: "The current numbers waiting for hip replacement operations reflect an increase in demand, however capacity has not grown to meet the demand.
"In previous years the trust has benefited from additional funding to purchase procedures from the independent sector, to carry out additional procedures within the trust and through other waiting list initiatives.
"Unfortunately due to the overall financial provision in the in the health sector this additional funding is currently not available, therefore waiting times continue to grow.
"Our clinical staff continually review patients on the waiting list to prioritise those with the greatest clinical need. We sincerely regret the affect that this has on our patients.
"Belfast trust continues to work with our colleagues in the health sector to increase efficiency and capacity to bring down our waiting times."
