BY PETE HENSHAW

WAITING lists at Leighton Hospital have fallen over the last year.

Figures released by the National Health Services North West Executive show that inroads have been made into the total number of people waiting for one-day operations.

The number of patients waiting for overnight operations has also slightly decreased.

Official figures show that the number of day patients waiting for operations has fallen from over 5, 800 to just over 5,000 in twelve months.

Since June this year the figure for outpatients has fallen slightly from 1,298 to 1,293.

Spokesman for Leighton Hospital, Ian Lewsey, welcomed the fall and said more good news could be on the way.

"The falls are a big deal under the general pressures that we are under and the major problem we have is nursing," he added.

"We could bring down the lists even more if we had the staff to do it but the money is there, we are waiting for the staff to come along.

"We would have hoped that the falls would be greater but the fuel crisis has something to do with that," he added.

The Mid-Cheshire Health Trust is aiming to recruit more nurses to help ease the winter beds crisis.

Health Secretary Alan Milburn welcomed the regional figures for the North West which also showed decreases.

Mr Milburn said: "Over the coming years the progress we have made will accelerate as the budget grows by one third. Today's figures show that the modernisation of the health service is starting to bite," he added.