The government is likely to fail to meet its pledge to banish the longest NHS waiting lists by 2004, reports today's Express.

Under its NHS Plan, the government pledged that no patient will have to wait more than six months to see a consultant after a referral by their GP, and they would get a second appointment within 15 months.

However, patients at Bedford Hospital is telling patients who require hernia repair surgery that they will have to wait two years before they even go on the in-patient list.