PIONEERING heart patients from Morecambe Bay are travelling hundreds of miles to have their bypass surgery at a private hospital in a waiting list-busting move.

A number of patients are being offered the chance to have their operations at a private or NHS hospital in London, with the NHS footing the bill, rather than wait for a slot at Blackpool Victoria Hospital, writes Health Reporter Michaela Robinson-Tate.

The move is designed to help the Lancashire hospital meet a government target that, by the end of last month, no-one should have waited more than 12 months for life-saving heart bypass surgery.

It comes almost three years after The Westmorland Gazette launched its HEARTLINE campaign to highlight the lengthy waiting times endured by Morecambe Bay patients.

Among the first to make the journey south will be Phillip Thompson, 67, of Kirkby Lonsdale, who has been on a waiting list since last May.

He and his wife, Jennifer, will be collected by car next Sunday and driven to London where Mr Thompson will be admitted to the private Wellington Hospital.

Mr Thompson, who has had heart problems for a number of years, had a heart attack in January 2001, and was told in March he would need between three and five bypasses.

He welcomed the move: "If it will help cure the problem I think it's got to be applauded.

"If people who are waiting and have got a problem see this in the paper it's going to give them some encouragement."

Mrs Thompson, who will be accommodated in London while her husband is in hospital said she was pleased that the operation was going ahead "at last".

Figures for the end of February show that there were 21 Morecambe Bay patients waiting longer than nine months for an NHS bypass, including 11 who had been waiting longer than a year.

MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale Tim Collins, who has jointly run HEARTLINE with the Gazette, has long pressed for patients to be able to travel for surgery.

"I'm delighted at long last the Government appears to be allowing patients this small element of choice.

However, it's still the case that people in South Cumbria are having to wait months for life-saving surgery that is carried out in a matter of weeks in other European countries."

Manager of the Kendal-based Heartreach charity Anthony Impey welcomed the move for patients but questioned whether it was the best use of resources.

A Blackpool Victoria Hospital NHS Trust spokesperson said there were now only three patients from Morecambe Bay who had been waiting more than 12 months.

Two had dates for surgery and one was expected to be treated at the end of the month.

One of the three would be travelling to the NHS Hammersmith Hospital in London.