ONE in five patients has to wait longer than six months to be admitted at two Worcestershire hospitals, a health watchdog report has revealed.

On Saturday, Worcestershire Hospitals NHS Trust was celebrating reports that the Sunday Times' Good Hospital Guide had given it the third best rating for mortality rates in the West Midlands.

But the full report - published yesterday - also showed that more than one in three patients is also waiting longer than 13 weeks to see a specialist at Worcestershire Royal Hospital, and the Alexandra, in Redditch.

The report, an independent audit of hospital standards across Britain and Ireland, criticised the "poor record" of the two hospitals' 13-week performance - ranking them as the seventh worst performing in the UK for outpatient waits.

However, the report highlighted patients' confidence in their doctors, putting Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs the Royal and the Alexandra, as well as Kidderminster Hospital, in the top 30 nationally in this category.

Eighty-eight per cent of patients surveyed also said they had been treated with respect and dignity "all of the time" as an outpatient.

The trust's chief executive John Rostill said everything was being done to improve waiting times, and extra nurses and doctors had been hired.

The trust hit all waiting list targets between last April and this March, and since last month the number of cancelled operations has been halved, he added.