A hospital consultant from England has spoken out over the "huge problems" of treating Welsh patients from underfunded authorities, after a leaked letter exposed long treatment delays.

Patients from Wales are not being treated at the specialist orthopaedic hospital in England due to funding difficulties in the NHS, according to the letter obtained by the BBC.

Hundreds of people from Wales can normally expect bone surgery at the Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic and District Hospital in Shropshire every year.

The letter shows the consultant's frustration

But a GP in Llanidloes, Powys, has received a letter from a consultant orthopaedic surgeon at the hospital in Gobowen saying management in the hospital have told him not to operate on any patients from Wales because of the cash problem.

The letter states: "...thank you for your note about (name omitted)...I would like to be able to operate on him sooner, but I have been instructed by the management that I am currently not to operate on any patients from Wales.

"This is a funding issue.

"As you can imagine this causes me some considerable frustration, but currently my hands are tied."A spokesperson for the hospital denied the allegation and said clinical priorities were not decided on a postcode basis.

But a consultant from the Shropshire hospital, Josh Dixie, said: "The problem is there is a far greater level of investment in England than in Wales in orthopaedic treatment.

"Forty per cent of our work comes from Wales, we are two miles from the Welsh border, and this situation causes distress to the patients and doctors involved. It is an unacceptable situation."

Josh Dixie: 'Unacceptable delays'

Department of Health figures show that Welsh patients admitted to the hospital face a longer wait than their English counterparts.

North Wales and Dyfed Powys Health Authorities commission services from the Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Hospital.

It is the second alert over orthopaedic services in Wales - a valleys hospital will not resume its surgery until Monday after human error was found be behind a woman patient having a knee joint part being put in the wrong leg.

In August, Wales' hospitals narrowly failed to make good on a Welsh Assembly promise that nobody would wait more than 18 months for orthopaedic surgery.

The NHS trust is best known for the National Centre for Sports Injury Surgery, which treats many top-flight footballers each year with damaged knee ligaments.

With more than 230 beds and nearly 700 staff, it also provides medical and elderly services and a minor injuries unit for the market town of Oswestry and surrounding area.

It has the only operating theatres in Britain which provide their own specially-cleaned air environment during surgical procedures.

Specialist services

Last month, the trust's chief executive confirmed this was due to a lower level of funding available from the NHS in Wales.

Wales' health minister, Jane Hutt has said she is committed to tackling the wait some patients have for a hospital appointment.

In January this year, the Commission for Health Improvement criticised the Oswestry-based trust for not involving the public enough when developing its services.

The CHI's board is led by Dame Deirdre Hine who was the Chief Medical Officer for Wales until 1997.

Despite this, in July the NHS trust was given a three-star rating as a centre of excellence for specialist services.