Three patients from Barnet were mistakenly told they would have to wait more than 18 months for operations.

Letters were sent out to the patients by Moorfields Hospital after it misinterpreted instructions from Barnet Health Authority telling it to divert non-urgent cases to the next financial year.

Patient Charter standards dictate that no-one should wait longer than 18 months for an operation and Barnet Health Authority has been the most successful in the North Thames region at reducing waiting lists.

Elizabeth Manero, chairman of health watchdog Barnet Community Health Council, demanded to know exactly when the operations will now take place.

The health authority's director of public health, Dr Stephen Farrow, said the three patients could still face a long wait.

"One of these was for a cataract operation, which is not in the class of cases that will be defined as urgent. It will mean a wait of 12 months or 15 months: it will not be three."

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