SOME patients in Kennet and North Wiltshire waiting for knee and hip replacements will be offered the chance of having their operation at an NHS hospital in London or Weston-super-Mare.
The switch to the other hospitals the Ravenscourt Park Hospital in London and Weston General Hospital is because the Royal United Hospital in Bath is struggling to meet its waiting list target.
By next March patients needing hip and knee replacements should be treated in nine months but a number of patients will have been waiting more than 12 months.
A total of 1,000 patients in Kennet and North Wiltshire, Bath and North East Somerset and West Wiltshire have been identified as waiting the longest and they will be offered the operations at the two hospitals. In Kennet and North Wiltshire about 230 patients will be offered the operations.
A spokeswoman for the trusts said patients would not be forced to have their operations at the two other hospitals and if they declined they would remain at their position in the waiting list for the RUH.
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