Health Minister Howard Quayle has admitted that Noble's Hospital is struggling to cope with demand for orthopaedic services.

In the House of Keys this week, Mr Quayle said that 69 patients were waiting for hip joint replacement surgery, describing the waiting times as 'lengthy'. He said a sub-group had been created from the waiting times management group to try to tackle the issue.

Mr Quayle said the consultant surgeon specialising in complex hip joint replacements had given up private practice to reduce the waiting time for NHS patients.

He said: 'The gentleman in question has 43 patients waiting, and he does have the longest waiting list, obviously, due to the specialty of the type of work that he does. He is giving up his private practice to do more National Health Service, which is most commendable. At present, the demand for orthopaedic services outweighs our current resources.'

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