BURY North MP David Chaytor has welcomed news this week that hospital waiting list figures are falling nationally - and locally.

He said: "Across the country hospital waiting lists have fallen by more than 45,000 over the last three months. I am delighted that, here in Bury, there has been a steady fall during June and July of around 2.5 per cent.

"In the North West region as a whole there has been a similar drop with 4,500 fewer patients waiting for operations than in March.

"As Health Secretary Frank Dobson put it, the waiting list supertanker has at last turned round.

"When the new government took office, waiting lists were at a record high and were rising faster than at any time in the history of the Health Service. Now they have fallen for three months in a row and are falling faster than at any time in the history of the Health Service.

"This hasn't happened by accident. I pay enormous tribute to NHS staff for everything they have done to bring this problem under control. The government has also targeted an extra £500 million to tackle waiting lists - with more than £2.3 million coming to Bury and Rochdale Health Authority.

"We always said it would be difficult to get waiting lists down and that it wouldn't happen overnight. However, now the supertanker has turned and the lists are coming down. We need to keep up the hard work to keep them coming down over the months and years ahead."

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