WHEN keen sequence dancer Michael Salisbury was referred to Basingstoke hospital for treatment on a bad knee, he did not expect to have to wait for 72 weeks!

Mr Salisbury, 65, from Ellington Drive, Basingstoke, said: "It's pretty ludicrous. I'm obviously not a life-or-death case but 72 weeks seems out-of-order. It's the equivalent of being told to go away."

Mr Salisbury and his wife Rose belong to Sapphire Sequence Dance Club, but are out dancing five or six nights per week as far afield as Ludgershall and Camberley.

The father-of-two said: "My right knee is not actually crippling me, but I was told I would benefit from some physio. It means I cannot dance as much as I would like. I'm diabetic and dancing is one of the things I have been told not to stop."

A letter from the hospital physio department warned him the out-patient list was "lengthy", but it was only when Mr Salisbury telephoned the hospital's Patient Advice and Liaison Service that he found out how long he would have to wait.

Mr Salisbury, a retired printer, added: "I said 'what about the Patients' Charter?' and they said it's outside it."

Basingstoke MP Andrew Hunter told The Gazette he has already been in touch with the hospital after being contacted by three people who were told to wait more than a year for physiotherapy.

He said: "I don't think you can attribute blame to the hospital. If you consider the incredible in-crease in resources in the NHS, it has gone on Government-ordained targets and something regarded as low priority like this physiotherapy cannot get funding. But the other side of it is the misery it can cause."

Mr Hunter said people "making a fuss" might be able to return to their GP and transfer from the routine list to the urgent list, but it was "a grey area".

Hospital spokeswoman Gina Lilley said the hospital and the North Hampshire Primary Care Trust who channel money to it from the Government, are conducting a review of the waiting time for routine cases which, she confirmed, had increased beyond 70 weeks.

She said: "This is with a view to making more funding available which will enable the trust to treat more patients as routine referrals."

Ms Lilley said urgent cases were seen within a week and "soon" cases within four-to-six weeks.