A SPECIAL meeting planned to discuss a private health firm carrying out knee and hip operations in a bid to slash waiting lists at the county's hospitals has been postponed.

An "extraordinary" public meeting was scheduled to take place today at Stourport Civic Centre, in New Street, Stourport-on-Severn, but has been cancelled at the last minute.

The meeting would have involved all of Worcestershire's NHS trusts and would have seen a business case put forward, proposing that a Canadian private health firm should be contracted to perform orthopaedic surgery at Kidderminster Treatment Centre.

A spokeswoman for South Worcestershire Primary Care Trust, which is spearheading the proposals, said there was "nothing untoward" about the cancellation of the meeting, and that it had simply been postponed because some "key players" were unable to attend.

A new meeting date has yet to be decided.

The Evening News reported in June that under the plans, operations would be carried out at the new multi-million pound Treatment Centre, in a separate orthopaedic unit run independently of the NHS.

The private company - Interhealth - would be contracted by Worcestershire's three primary care trusts to perform 9,000 operations over the next five years, including hip and knee replacements.

The deal - aimed at taking pressure off acute hospitals - would be the first of its kind in Worcestershire and one of the first in the UK.

Patients would wait no longer than three months for surgery at the unit - three months shorter than current six-month waits at Worcestershire Royal Hospital - and would also benefit from "quick, slick and effective" treatment.

But fears have been expressed that the deal will see less qualified, overseas surgeons carrying out operations and the deal would result in primary care trusts paying out huge fines if they did not ensure GPs and hospitals were referring enough patients to the unit.

Have you got a health-related story? Contact Emma Cullwick on 01905 742254 or email: ec@midlands.newsquest.co.uk