PROBLEMS at a new £97m hospital could lead to unacceptable delays in treating patients with cancer, according to a new report.

Today, members of North Durham Health Care NHS Trust will consider a highly critical report from district auditors.

As part of routine checks to see whether North-East hospitals are meeting the NHS Plan, a team of auditors visited the University Hospital of North Durham, in Durham City, between August and October.

They highlighted seven areas as being at "high risk" of failing to meet national waiting list NHS targets - and reported 20 breaches during August of the maximum two-week waiting time for suspected cancer patients, including 16 which related to breast cancer.

Worryingly, auditors said that "significant" numbers of patients referred by GPs as routine should have been categorised as urgent, and vice versa, which could cause "unacceptable delays in diagnosing tumours in other patients".

They said they were "dismayed" that the situation may not be resolved until the end of March.

The auditors criticised management for spending money on extra operating sessions and outpatient clinics instead of investing in long term solutions.

A trust spokesman said: "The issues highlighted in the report are the key challenges for our new management team which we are in the process of appointing.

"It is important to stress this has nothing to do with the Private Funding Initiative with which University Hospital was built.

"Waiting lists are being reduced and by the end of December the trust will have no one waiting more than 12 months."