CATARACT patients in Gwent face longer waits for treatment because cash set aside for operations has been withheld to help reduce a budget deficit.

The Assembly's target of a maximum four-month wait for cataract surgery has been met in Gwent during recent months, but only because extra operations have been carried out under waiting-list initiatives.

Now the proposed funding to allow this work to continue through to April next year has been taken out of the overall budget plan, known as the SaFF (Strategic and Financial Framework).

Gwent Healthcare Trust's performance chief, Allan Davies, warned that this could mean some patients waiting up to six months for treatment from early next year. He said: "We will probably meet the (four-month) target in November and possibly December, but the situation is looking increasingly tight."

"Gwent is one of the few trusts in Wales to have got anywhere near achieving this target, and it would be a shame to lose it for lack of money." A report to the trust board estimates that without the funding, up to 300 Gwent cataract patients could be waiting longer than the four-month target time by the end of next March, though none should have to wait longer than six months.

Mr Davies said current efforts to maintain the four-month maximum wait mean the March figure will "probably be lower, 150-175". "We will be pressing local health boards for funding to try to make it even lower," he said.

Reducing cataract treatment waiting-times is one of the Assembly's priorities.

Millions of pounds of waiting-list initiative cash has been spent in recent years to bring more speedily to patients the benefits of quick, relatively cheap surgery.

In September 2002, almost 400 Gwent patients had waited longer than four months, but the target was reached by the end of March and has been more or less sustained since then.

Weekend operations and treatment for some patients in other centres, such as Bridgend, have helped to meet the target.

Around £500,000 was needed to maintain the target through the 2003/04 financial year, but with Gwent's local health boards and trust trying to cut costs to tackle a budget deficit, some spending plans have been dropped.