PATIENTS waiting for orthopaedic operations at Southampton General Hospital are being sent elsewhere - because funding has run out.

The Daily Echo can reveal up to 100 people face travelling to Salisbury, Bournemouth or Portsmouth in the next few months because there is no money available to fund their operation at their local hospital.

Southampton University Hospitals Trust, which runs the General, said it had already performed the required number of orthopaedic operations for this financial year.

The trust, which gets its funding from Southampton City Primary Care Trust, has carried out more than 4,200 orthopaedic operations since April last year.

Trust spokesman Peter Campion said: "We are delivering what we are paid to deliver. In this case, we simply do not have the capacity to do the extra work."

News that Southampton orthopaedic patients may have to travel to other areas for surgery comes just a day after it was revealed how a blunder had left 35 people with cancelled out-patient appointments.

Later editions of yesterday's Daily Echo reported how 35 orthopaedic patients had been turned away from a clinic at Southampton's Royal South Hants Hospital because their medical notes had not been typed up.

The trust, which has scaled down the use of agency nurses and clerical staff as part of a £15m cost-cutting drive, is investigating how the mistake happened.

Southampton City PCT has issued an assurance that every orthopaedic patient in need of surgery would receive it.

A spokesman said non-elective patients would continue to receive treatment when and where they needed it, with most cases being emergencies.

However, up to 100 other patients could have to have their operations at centres other than Southampton.

The PCT also has orthopaedic surgery contracts with NHS hospitals in Bournemouth and Portsmouth, as well as at New Hall private hospital near Salisbury and the Nuffield at Chandler's Ford.

Although patients can choose to have their operations at any, most opt for Southampton General as it is their nearest.

The spokesman said: "Regrettably, some patients may not get treated at their first choice of hospital over the next few months."

GPs across the city have expressed concern about their patients having to travel to Salisbury and other areas for surgery.

One of them, Dr John Glasspool of the Victor Street surgery in Shirley, said: "Elderly and disabled people and those without transport are going to find it potentially very difficult."