A HEART patient had to be taken into York District Hospital for emergency treatment before he finally got the angioplasty operation he had been waiting for.

And another heart patient said today that North Yorkshire Health Authority was failing to fulfil its promise to provide the operations without prolonged delays.

The delays were highlighted in the Evening Press last month, after three York District Hospital consultants wrote to about 40 patients saying their procedures had to be held back an extra two months, on top of the usual three to four months, because of a lack of funding.

North Yorkshire Health Authority admitted it had requested that non-emergency angioplasty operations be delayed until after the change in the financial year, at the end of this month.

It is understood that the Government then stepped in and told the health authority to make the money available before the end of the financial year.

Twelve of the patients have spoken to the Evening Press, and with two weeks to go until the new financial year only one of those has had the operation. All have been waiting at least four months.

The health authority today said this was a waiting list issue and not a funding issue, and that patients were being seen in accordance with clinical need.

But for Fred Storr, on the waiting list since November, the wait was too long. He went into the hospital last week with suspected heart failure.

Mr Storr, 56, of Westholme Drive, Rawcliffe, was given an emergency angioplasty last Thursday in Leeds General Infirmary, where all the operations are referred to from York. He was discharged last Saturday, and is now planning to go back to work next month after being off sick for months.

He said: "It's disgusting that it should have had to come to this before I got the operation.

"I was very ill last week. The hospitals should not be messing about with people's hearts. This is very frightening stuff and I'm very angry that I and my family had to be in this stressful situation before anything was done.

"It will have cost so much more to treat me because I was in hospital a week. Normally it is just an overnight stay for the routine operation.

"The operation has changed my life already. But how far does it have to go before you get the operation? The next person might not be so lucky."

A health authority spokesman said: "Routine referrals for angioplasty - like Mr Storr's referral - see patients being placed on a waiting list.

"It is the patient's consultant who decides the priority of the patient and who can order earlier surgery if the patient's condition requires it.

"Unfortunately, for some patients, their conditions deteriorate rapidly, and they are brought in for urgent procedures."

The health authority said the consultants' letter had not made a difference to waiting times. It said four patients who had received the letter were dealt with in February. A further operation was due this week, and two were scheduled for next week. One was done privately, and Mr Storr was an emergency.

Ray Wheatland, 50, who was featured on the front page of the Evening Press saying he believed he would die before his operation, still has not had a date. He has been waiting since November.

Updated: 16:33 Tuesday, March 12, 2002