PATIENTS are waiting up to 13 months to be assessed at physiotherapy outpatient clinics before they can start treatment.

More than 1,000 people are on the waiting list for the Blackburn, Hyndburn and Ribble Valley NHS Trust.

In the last month, waiting times to see three of the four consultants jumped by seven weeks to more than a year, the longest wait for any service provided by the Trust.

Director of nursing Richard Gildert, of the NHS Trust, said three more full-time physiotherapists had recently been taken on to try and cut the backlog, and he hoped waiting times would be down to a few months within four months.

The patients have all been referred by their GPs to the clinics to see if physiotherapy can help them with problems such as bad backs, rheumatic pains and sore joints.

Mr Gildert said patients who needed physiotherapy after hospital treatment did not have to join the waiting list, and urgent referrals from GPs were seen within weeks.

GP referrals have been steadily rising for several years since fundholding was abolished and GPs no longer had to manage their own budgets. Mr Gildert said they were planning to negotiate joint funding for the service with the local Primary Care Trusts to try and manage the level of referrals after the waiting lists have been cut.