91Èȱ¬

Hospital doctors are expressing concerns that some Welsh NHS patients are suffering side effects from the drive to meet tough new targets.

Welsh hospitals are making good progress towards Assembly Government waiting time targets for new patients.

But there is evidence that patients already in the system, who require regular returns to clinic to treat life-long conditions like glaucoma, are losing out.

By the end of the year the Welsh Assembly Government wants all NHS patients to be treated within 26 weeks of referral. Recent statistics show good progress towards that aim.

But eye consultant Nick Hawksworth says that within his speciality, there is evidence that progress is being achieved at a cost to some within the Hospital Eye Service.

"There's a big drive on at the moment for hospital trusts to meet targets, in particular for new patients."

"Unfortunately it has had something of an adverse effect in that many follow up patients are disadvantaged and appointments have been moved in order to make place for new patients."

"Within Wales we have some very clear anecdotal evidence of patients who have already suffered irreversible sight loss as a result of delayed appointments."

But it's not just eye clinics where doctors believe the pressure to deliver on waiting time targets is causing problems.

Jonathan Osborne is an ENT surgeon and vice-chairman of the Welsh council of the British Medical Association.

"All specialities have particular conditions that do require fairly close monitoring and follow up and those patients are undoubtedly suffering."

And while accepting that broad brush targets do have a place with the NHS, Mr Osborne is appealing to Welsh health minister Edwina Hart to re-think the way they are currently being applied.

"We'd like to see targets to be simpler; we'd like to see some of the rules relaxed. 90% or 95% compliance is probably better than expensively chasing those last few numbers."

"And we'd like the administration of these targets to be simplified. There's a whole army of people employed by the NHS - not in frontline clinical care - merely monitoring the targets."

A spokesperson for the Welsh Assembly Government told 91Èȱ¬ Radio Wales's Eye on Wales programme that it was its position that "patients should be treated in order of clinical priority."

"Clinicians will continue to have absolute flexibility in determining their priorities within the targets so patients are treated when needed."