Good health managers can act badly said the doctor

Devon GP Charlie Daniels told a conference that one of his patients had needed a knee operation and was told by a consultant at Torbay Hospital it should be done within six to eight weeks.

But the patient, Ronald Bradshaw, 61, then received a letter saying he could have to wait nine months.

Despite repeated attempts by Dr Daniels to bring forward the operation, he was told people came off the waiting list in chronological order.

Mr Bradshaw's MP, Adrian Sanders, wrote to the hospital and now Mr Bradshaw is due to have his operation on 29 June.

'Managers cheat'

Dr Daniels said: "How have we come to this? What a sorry state we are in. Now it is MPs and hospital managers that are deciding clinical priorities, not us physicians."

Mr Bradshaw, a school caretaker, said it would have been impossible for him to have spent nine months on crutches waiting for his operation.

He said: "I don't want to jump any queue, but the consultant said I needed the operation very urgently."

Dr Daniels told the British Medical Association conference in London: "Targets make good managers behave badly and cheat.

"Targets damage the doctor-patient relationship.

"Targets damage the doctor-manager relationship. Targets damage the GP-consultant relationship. Targets damage the patient-NHS relationship. But worst of all, targets damage patients."