PATIENTS waiting for cataract operations in East Lancashire have been given a £930,000 boost.

Hospitals in Burnley and Blackburn have been awarded the money to cut cataract waiting lists to hit tough new targets which come in next year.

The funding is part of the £73million national cataract initiative, announced in May, that aims to have the waiting time for a cataract operation down to three months by December 2004.

Cumbria and Lancashire Strategic Heath Authority has been awarded £3,075 million to reduce the waiting times for cataract operations across the whole of the area to as little as six weeks.

The extra funding may help waiting times in the area to fall to three months or less by August 2004, four months before the national deadline.

Each trust will be looking at a host of new initiatives to speed up waiting times, including buying some extra operations from the private sector.

Across the country there are currently at least 50,000 elderly patients waiting more than three months for cataract treatment and by the age of 75, a quarter of all people will have developed a cataract.

The condition not only causes impaired vision. If left untreated, it can result in blindness. Modern cataract surgery is very highly successful and very quick.

Patients are free to go home usually within an hour of leaving the operating theatre.

Hospitals spokeswoman Angela Brown said no local waiting list figures were available and added: "Our target is to reduce waiting lists down to six months by March 2004 and to three months by August 2004.

"To enable us to do this we will be employing an additional ophthalmology consultant and will have waiting list initiatives running alongside."

Pearse Butler, chief executive of the Cumbria and Lancashire SHA, said he was delighted the bid for extra money had been successful. He said: "We know that many people in our area have cataracts - and though they may well be healthy in other respects, the condition really impacts their quality of life, as they cannot read or drive.

"We do not want anyone in this situation to have to wait longer than necessary to have their vision restored.

"This is why this particular operation has been made a priority."

Four other trusts, North Cumbria Acute Trust, Blackpool, Fylde and Wyre Hospitals Trust, Lancashire Teaching Hospitals Trust and Morecambe Bay Primary Care Trust will also benefit from the scheme.