THE Government's new NHS treatment centres are proving a hit with patients in Worcestershire, Health Secretary John Reid said today.

Dr Reid said that in the South West Midlands, waiting lists were falling as a result of a surge in the number of people attending treatment centres - like the one in Kidderminster - in the past year.

The centres were introduced to ease the strain on hospital waiting lists.

Figures released today showed that 3,471 people in Worcestershire, Herefordshire, Coventry and Warwickshire attended a treatment centre between April and October 2004.

This is more than double the 1,257 people who attended the centres in the first year after their introduction in April 2003.

The success of the centres had helped reduce waiting lists nationally by about 144,000, a report said, while the number of patients waiting more than six months for treatment fell by about 126,000.

Dr Reid said: "This report outlines the impressive progress made by the treatment centre programme to date and helps explain the continuing fall in waiting lists. Treatment centres play an important role in speeding up access to treatment for patients and improving quality of care and patients' experience."

The centres carry out operations up to eight times faster than traditional services by concentrating on diagnosis and surgery in the most hard-pressed areas.

Dr Reid said the centres were also providing increased choice for patients.

From December, he said, patients would be offered a choice of four or five providers when they were recommended treatment by their GP.

"Today's figures show that 100,000 fewer people are waiting longer than six months for admission compared to October 2003," he said.

"We must continue to work hard to further reduce waiting times."