A HOSPITAL must wait until July to win new freedoms from Whitehall control - three months after it was expected to gain the extra powers.

City Hospitals Sunderland has been placed in the slow lane of applications for so-called foundation status, after legislation was delayed by House of Lords opposition.

Bill Moyes, the independent regulator appointed by the Government, said yesterday that he was unable to scrutinize all 24 applicant hospitals by the end of the financial year.

Therefore, only 12 - including North Tees and Hartlepool trust - will be able to win foundation status from April 1, the original target date.

And all 24 hospitals must still pass tests of their plans for developing health services, their financial predictions and their management structures and strategies.

No one was available at City Hospitals Sunderland to comment on the delay.

The delay was caused when the Health and Social Care Bill only cleared parliament in late November.

A further four North trusts - South Tyneside, Gateshead, Harrogate and York - are on course to win foundation status in a second wave of hospitals, possibly as early as October.

Making the announcement yesterday, Mr Moyes sought to calm fears that extremist groups would be able to seize control of foundation hospitals.

At some hospitals, fewer than 1,000 former patients and members of the public signed up as members, with the right to vote for board members.

But Mr Moyes said: "If something goes badly wrong and a single interest group does take over a governing body, we have powers to step in - and we would use them.