Ridiculous - these waiting lists are only shortened because managers and PCTs stop patients being put onto them! A novel way of shortening waiting lists - do it from the other end....!

Alison, Leeds,

CEPOD (Confidential Enquiry into Perioperative Deaths) regularly find increased mortality when operations are performed out-of-hours, even when adjustments are made for severity of illness, operation type etc. There is less critical care support out-of-hours, and as the European Working Time Directive forces cuts to doctors working hours, hospitals will necessarily be run on a skeleton staff. Patsy is particularly poorly informed this time, and is trying to bring in yet another initiative that not only has no evidence to support it, but that is known to be dangerous.

Alison, Leeds,

All spin no substance - as an anesthesiologist (working outside the UK) I can tell you that neither patients nor staff want 24/7 elective surgery, and the cost of out of hours elective work will be prohibitive.

Try getting a plumber at 3 o'clock in the morning and see how far you get - and how much it costs.

Sound bite politics spinning the idea of the week - what a joke.

Alastair Ewen, Calgary, Canada

As a busy GP, I know a number of consultant surgeons. Every single surgeon I know is already working long hours, much longer hours than their juniors would be allowed to work under the European Working Time Directive. For some reason, this directive does not apply to consultants.

There is a desperate shortage of junior medcial staff, of junior surgeons.

So, OK, Mr Blair, round the clock surgery sounds good, but WHO IS GOING TO DO IT?

Dr John Crippen, Coventry, England

A colleague recently had a consultants appointment postponed until the next financial year. Operations in many areas of the country are being deferred due to lack of funds. This just has to be the usual Blair spin.

Mike Rose, Soham, Cambs

This is again all New Labour fluff. Many hospitals has cut waiting lists right down without this type of working. Then the cash-strapped Primary care Trust ordered us to add 9 weeks to outpatient waits and 24 to inpatients - otherwise they would refuse to pay. For soem reason the media have largely ignored this - although it sstarted about 9 months ago and has been adopted by PCTs all over the SE

Andrew McIrvine, London, UK

Again, Blair is attempting to leave us a legacy for us to remember from his wasted ten years in power. As a surgeon working in the NHS system, we currently are restricted by managers from operating on patients according to their clinical need and priority and in the amount of time in theatres we are allowed due to PCTs not wanting to pay for operations too early, in order to try and balance their books. If the report above is correct, I can envisage several problems - PCTs will not be able to afford the sudden drain on their budgets if the numbers of operations suddenly jumps; patients and their families will not want to have their operations at ten in the evening; It has been shown, and I know from personal experience that surgeons, anaesthetists and theatre staff do not work at their best outside of regular working hours and 'backup' services such as intensive care are less able to cope with emergencies at these times. Patient safety will be comprimised, remember Blair when it is.

E C, London,

where does the extra money for staff for the theatres come from? and where are the extra beds for post-op care? My next door neighbour, an ENT surgeon, can't do operations now because there isn't enough money to staff the theatre even during the day.

Charles Hope, Guildford, England

If you are an emergency, rushed into theatre at 2 in the morning via A&E then you are only to pleased to have doctors and nurses available.
But to do routine operations at that time, during the graveyard shift, when it is known that reaction times, efficiency and capability are considerably lowered is not a good idea. It is giving the patient second best to meet arbitary targets while maintaining the cost cutting.
No thank you.

CA Metcalfe, Essex,

I fully support patients being seen as quickly as possible, to have to wait for an operation any length of time is appalling. However, as member of an NHS Hospital where I run a clinic, I cannot condone the working for 'Time off in lieu'. When not running a clinic I work totally flexible hours, but only part time and that time is not enough to do the job, therefore, I work almost as many TOIL hours as paid hours to do the work, in order that my patients are seen quickly. We have no waiting list in my depatrment. BUT I will never be able to take those TOIL hours, so in effect I am working for free.

Good try Labour Government, but 'no coconut!!' You just cannot have something for nothing, but you need to be paying the right people to do the work.

Linda, Buxted,

This whole target thing is nonsense....the public doesnt know that PCTs are refusing to pay hospitals money for elective surgery if they havent been on the waiting list for four months...most of the time we were not even allowed to bring patients in by hospital managers because of this stupid rule....the theatre was empty and we sat idle while Mr blair blitz'd the media with another "major" health announcement

Dr Azam, London,

Very nice. But the problem is that the PCTs who hold the budget are refusing to pay hospitals who do too much
work.

Our wonderful government likes to lay the blame at the feet of PCTs, but without adequate funding, we will never be rid of longish waiting lists.

Peter Gristwood, Exeter,