DOCTORS are crying foul after fast-track clinics for orthopaedic patients were axed.

GPs believe that concerns about meeting waiting list targets may be behind the cancellation of two clinics - but hospital bosses say the move is about ensuring equal access to services.

For more than five years, patients in Bishop Auckland and Stanhope have been able to see a consultant orthopaedic surgeon at their local surgery, instead of travelling to Bishop Auckland General Hospital.

However, the last clinics are due to be held in January, despite protests from family doctors that this will mean longer waits for patients.

The special arrangements, left over from the days when some GPs were given extra funds to purchase services for their patients, meant that patients needing orthopaedic procedures could see a surgeon within four to six weeks.

Normally, patients who are referred to Bishop Auckland hospital to see a specialist have to wait around 24 weeks.

Doctors cannot understand why a popular local service has been stopped, particularly when it was available to all practices within the Dales Primary Care Group area.

Dr Brian Pike, one of six GPs at the Bishopgate Medical Practice, in Bishop Auckland, said: "The two practices are very upset because we had an in-house clinic which is being withdrawn. It was running really well."

Dr Pike said the GPs could only conclude that the clinics were adding too many patients to waiting lists at a time when all hospitals are under pressure to reduce waiting times.

"We are sad about this. It was a good service which the patients appreciated," said Dr Pike.

"Patients are going to end up waiting up to 18 months. When you think how painful it is to have a hip problem it is a matter of concern," he said.

A spokeswoman for South Durham Health Care NHS Trust said: "This is about equity of service. It has nothing to do with waiting lists."

The clinics in Bishop Auckland and Stanhope had meant that some people were getting faster access at the expense of others, she said.

"It now means patients will be seen in the proper order," she said.