A team of surgeons from South Africa has carried out 950 cataract operations in Lancashire.

Operation Cataract, treating patients from Lancaster, Morecambe and South Cumbria is said to have reduced waiting times.

Forty doctors and nurses started the work a month ago at the Royal Lancaster Infirmary.

The scheme was set up after Morecambe Bay Hospitals NHS Trust secured funding from the government's Overseas Clinical Team.

Target exceeded

The Infirmary had fallen behind the Furness General Hospital in cataract operations, and the project aimed to wipe out the deficit.

The operations were carried out in the day-care unit of the Royal Lancaster Infirmary at evenings and weekends.

The chief executive of the Morecambe Bay Hospitals Trust, Ian Cumming, says it became clear that the original target of 800 operations could be exceeded - so it was increased to 950.

He said waiting times should now be well below six months.