NORTH WEST Hampshire MP Sir George Young has hit out at a total failure to meet waiting time guidelines for the treatment of women who have had breast cancer surgery.

The Conservative MP says it is "unacceptable" that in May this year the 28-day guideline was breached for all 28 women who attended the Wessex Radiotherapy Centre in Southampton.

Figures compiled by the centre show the average length of wait for these patients proved to be 78 days.

Patients from north Hampshire are sent to Southampton for radiotherapy, as the service is not available at Basingstoke.

Former Cabinet member Sir George has raised the issue of long waiting times in the House of Commons after one of his constituents, who was a patient, complained about the delay.

He said: "Of course I understand the pressure on staff working within the NHS, but the waiting times for radiotherapy are unacceptable and I am therefore continuing to raise this matter with ministers to ensure that my constituents get the resources they are entitled to."

He added: "It is important if the maximum benefit is to be secured from the surgery that the subsequent radiotherapy begins promptly."

Marilyn Kay, a spokeswoman for Southampton Hospitals Trust, which includes the Wessex Radiotherapy Centre, said there was no denying the lack of capacity to provide radiotherapy, but a £19.9 million unit is being built at Southampton General Hospital to provide three new machines and this should be working in February.

She said: "Yes we do have a problem and we are doing our level best to solve it. We are not happy with the present situation either. Our machines work harder than others in the region, but it is a capacity problem."

She added efforts had been made to send patients to other hospitals but there was no spare capacity.