A PRIVATE hospital in Darlington has signed a deal to operate on Dutch patients - while thousands in the North-East remain on waiting lists.

The private Woodlands Hospital, on Yarm Road, is treating the patients as part of a scheme to cut waiting lists in Holland.

The hospital already treats many NHS patients, but managers say there is room for more.

At the weekend it announced plans to increase bed numbers converting six of the existing day surgery beds into overnight beds and finding space for another six overnight beds within the hospital.

So far, four patients have taken the 80-minute trip from Amsterdam to Teesside Airport. More will follow each month.

Peter Fermoy, spokesman for the Independent Healthcare Association, which represents private hospitals in the UK, congratulated the Woodlands on finding a new market in Holland but urged the Government to make more use of capacity in the private sector.

"In 2001, around 80,000 NHS patients were treated in the independent sector. We would suggest that there is the potential to double that number year on year," he said.

The former South Durham NHS trust, which includes Darlington Memorial Hospital has 1,163 patients waiting for orthopaedic surgery.

But a spokeswoman for the trust said: "Our patients are treated within 12 months, which is the national target. Around 88 per cent are treated within nine months."

Woodlands medical director Howard Rutherford said: "We are already very busy with NHS work but we would be delighted to do more.