OPERATING theatres set to close this month at the Orpington Treatment Centre will now be kept open until next year to cope with a backlog of patients.

Bromley Hospitals’ NHS Trust has 200 orthopaedic, 100 general surgery and 50 ear, nose and throat patients it is unable to treat at the Princess Royal University Hospital in Farnborough within the 18-week waiting time limit set by the Government.

To tackle the backlog, the trust will be keeping theatres open at Orpington until March 31 next year and will also be using space at BMI hospitals in Beckenham and Dartford.

In July it announced three operating theatres were to close at the Sevenoaks Road centre, with the planned surgery it provided being transferred to the Princess Royal University Hospital in Farnborough.

Tory MP for Orpington John Horam said: “My concern is that it has always had problems with waiting time targets and it shows it still has problems.

“In view of that it seems foolish to close theatres at Orpington to meet its financial targets, when it’s going to miss its waiting time targets.

“The trust said in July that it had enough capacity at the PRUH to cope with all Orpington patients and meet waiting times. Well it clearly has not.”

But trust boss Mike Marchment says the date they plan to move surgery was always dependent on being able to meet the 18-week target.

He said: “We have a large number of patients waiting over 18 weeks for treatment.

“There have been discussions with the PCT and NHS London about the need for funding to ensure those patients can be treated.

“The trust has recognised not all of those patients can be treated within our own facilities and has already made arrangements to start transferring some patients to other providers.

“However, in discussions locally it is clear that with the willingness of staff, extra sessions could be put on to maximise the use of the surgical wards and three theatres at Orpington over the coming months.”