Number of bypass operations per 100,000 people

US 202 Belgium 156 Germany 90 UK 35

They also show that the UK carried out the second fewest artery-widening operations.

This is despite fact that Britain has a relatively high rate of heart disease, which remains the nation's biggest killer.

The government has said that by next month no patient will wait longer than a year for a bypass.

However, in Europe the standard target is just three months.

Staff shortage

Part of the problem is that the UK has a shortage of heart surgeons.

However, there are also shortages of specialist intensive care beds and staff.

A Department of Health spokesman said �300m had recently been invested in heart care.

He said the NHS was well on course to exceed the target of 6,000 extra heart operatoins by April 2003.

The government has put in place a ten year programme to bring the UK up to speed with the rest of Europe.

This includes more teams of specialists, extra cardiac operating theatres and extra specialist beds.

The OECD studied data on heart bypass operations from 11 countries, and data on artery widening operations called coronary angioplasties from 12.

Increasing number

A spokesperson for the British Heart Foundation said the number of heart bypass operations in UK had increased five-fold since 1980 and almost doubled in the last decade.

"Statistics are never black and white and rarely tell the whole story.

"As well as looking at the number of procedures carried out it is important to compare this to each country's level of coronary heart disease (CHD).

"This gives a better idea of need because countries with a high level of CHD should in theory be carrying out more operations to treat it.

"Unfortunately, previous figures released by the BHF have shown that when this adjustment is made the UK falls even lower down the league table because we have such a high rate of CHD.

"However, the UK is making great efforts to reduce the incidence of CHD and improve its treatment, so in future years the picture should hopefully improve."