Northland surgery wait targeted

Northland Health aims to slash waiting times for 4200 people needing surgery.

About 4200 people are on waiting lists or active review, and about 800 are booked for an operation within six months.

More than 300 of the latter had been waiting longer than six months, 170 people more than a year and 40 more than two years.

About 20 per cent of those on active review had been waiting longer than two years.