A CWMBRAN woman with chronic hip pain has been told she must wait 160 weeks - just for an appointment with a consultant.

Betty Williams, 59, pictured, has suffered with painful hip problems for more than two years.

She was receiving physiotherapy and in December was referred to a consultant but told she would have to wait more than three years for an appointment.

The Argus reported yesterday that Gwent NHS Trust said no patient in Gwent is waiting more than 18 months for orthopaedic treatment.

But that does not include the number of people waiting to see a consultant for orthopaedic treatment - currently the waiting list for that is 3,200.

And Mrs Williams is just one of them.

She said: "The physiotherapy seemed to make the problem worse so the therapist thought that I might need a hip replacement and my GP agreed. He referred me to a consultant, I just can't believe it is going to take more than three years just to get an appointment."

Mrs Williams is concerned that the figures for Gwent's waiting list are being juggled to cut waiting times for operations by making people wait longer for a consultation instead.

"I saw that the Trust had met its target for operation waiting times but what about getting on that list in the first place? I'm in pain all the time, it stops me sleeping properly and really affects what I can do. I'm relatively young and just want the problem sorted out so I can get on with my life and be active with my grandchildren."

Brian Butt, manager of waiting lists for Gwent Healthcare Trust said: "That is one of the longest waits I have heard of, but they can be that long for some specialist consultants. It is not the case that we are making people wait longer to see a consultantant in order to reduce the time between consultation and treatment in order to meet targets. We have no control over the amount of patients being referred to a consultant by GPs."

He added: "Obviously we want to minimise the wait for consultant appointments and we are looking at ways of achieving that. We are currently in discussions with the National Assembly about increasing the funding for new extended scope practitioners who could diagnose less serious cases and free up the consultants time."

Figures released this week show Welsh hospital waiting lists are at their highest since records began.