HEALTH Secretary Alan Milburn's drive to speed up heart surgery has produced a "spectacular" drop in patients waiting longer than six months, according to new figures.

The news - on the third anniversary of Mr Milburn's national heart plan - means The Northern Echo's Chance To Live campaign for a maximum three-month wait is close to being fulfilled three years earlier than expected.

The campaign was launched following the death of The Northern Echo's deputy chief photographer, Ian Weir, who had been on a waiting list for heart bypass surgery for seven months.

This week, national heart "tsar" Dr Roger Boyle predicted that the three month target set for 2008 will be achieved before 2005.

In March 2000, there were more than 6,000 patients waiting for heart surgery. That figure had fallen to 1,527 by December last year.

On a visit to his Darlington constituency, Mr Milburn said: "The whole health team have got behind this effort. They are making huge strides forward."

He also revealed that the lives of an extra 6,000 heart patients a year are now being saved because the prescribing of statins, a cholesterol-reducing drug, has been doubled.

In an article in this week's Health Service Journal, Professor John Yates, a leading researcher in health services management, said the figures showed that heart surgeons had performed "miraculously" compared to other surgical specialities.

In the same issue, Dr Boyle said resources were now being targetted at places such as the North-East where the need was greatest.

Mr Milburn has acknowledged the influence of The Northern Echo's heart campaign.