WAITS of more than 12 months for hospital treatment for Gwent patients will be eliminated by the end of November, and possibly by the end of this month, say health chiefs.

The pledge comes as surgeons and managers try to catch up on an operations backlog which began at the start of the current financial year last April.

By the end of March, only Gwent patients who had turned down an offer of treatment in England, or in the private sector paid for by the NHS under the Assembly's Second Offer Scheme, had been waiting more than a year for treatment.

From April, NHS trusts in Wales were required to maintain a maximum 12-month treatment waiting time month-on-month, instead of only by the end of every March.

But delays with the Assembly organising surgical slots and funding for them in English and private hospitals meant that even patients who had accepted Second Offer Scheme places could not be treated in time.

Gwent's position was complicated as urgent rewiring work closed an orthopaedic ward at Nevill Hall Hospital , Abergavenny, for six weeks, while another surgical ward there operated at half-capacity throughout August while fire safety work was completed.

Gwent Healthcare Trust head of performance Allan Davies said these factors and the impact of staff annual leave during the summer had hampered attempts to achieve the maximum 12-month waiting time month-on-month.

"The most realistic date to achieve this is November, but every effort is being made to bring this forward to end of this month," he said.

By the end of July 295 patients had been waiting more than 12 months for treatment, though the amount fell to 215 by the end of August, and continues to fall.

Second Offer Scheme patients from Gwent are being treated in England, while private capacity at St Joseph's Hospital in Newport is helping reduce the number of waiting time target breaches.

Mr Davies said a £5.7 million gap in funding - reported earlier this year - required to maintain the 12-month target to the end of next March, remains.

The trust is in talks on this issue with Gwent's five Local Health Boards.