A man who has waited for a knee operation for two years says it would be “ridiculous” to fine hospitals for exceeding waiting time targets.

Health commissioners are set to fine West Herts Hospitals Trust, which runs Watford General Hospital, around £888,000 – because its waiting times are too high.

NHS targets state 92 per cent of patients should receive treatment within 18 weeks of referral, but the figure for West Herts is 85 per cent.

Some 92 patients have been waiting for more than a year.

Herts Valleys Clinical Commissioning Group is set to impose financial ‘sanctions’ of around £500,000 a month.

John Willis, 63, from Foxhill, North Watford has been waiting on a knee operation for two years. He claims that every time the hospital cancelled, administrators cited financial problems.

Mr Willis says the hospital is top heavy with administrators and the money would be better spent on medical staff.

But even he does not agree with the fine.

He said: “They were cancelling people’s appointments before the fines. I’m not surprised this has happened."

He added: “The fine on the other hand is ridiculous, where will the money go?”

Dacorum borough councillor Jan Maddern is a member of the health in Dacorum scrutiny committee.

She said: “Who is going to benefit from a hospital being fined half a million pounds?

“The CCG and the hospital trust are supposed to work in partnership and sing from the same hymn sheet – what benefit can this bring?”

Andy Love, of St Albans, is campaigning for a new A&E hospital for south Herts, but he also disagrees with the penalty.

He said: “The money which is now being taken away is doing nothing but penalising the hospital.

“I think staff were ultimately close to hitting their targets, but the fines won’t relieve any of the pressure.

“They are already stripped of their resources and I think this will end up harming patients.”

The punishments are expected to continue until the trust reaches the target level.

Commenting on the measures, the hospital trust’s chief financial officer Don Richards said it was in discussions with the CCG about how this money could be used to alleviate elective and emergency pressures at the trust.

But he said the fines would worsen the trust's financial position.

A CCG spokesperson said: “Herts Valleys CCG and West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust (WHHT) are working together to help reduce the waiting list. We are using the sanctions levied to make sure that patients get the treatment they need at other places and have agreed this with the hospital trust.

“We have identified additional capacity at alternative hospitals to the value of approximately £3.8m. The CCG has also agreed to fund an additional manager and on- site administration staff at WHHT and these staff members will be focused on helping to solve the issues at WHHT and to get things back on track.

“The trust’s current performance is partly due to a national decision to suspend elective and non-urgent surgery due to the emergency pressures felt by NHS last winter. After this period, the trust continued to struggle with emergency pressures, estates issues, and staffing issues. The reason that WHHT is receiving these sanctions is because they have breached the national NHS constitution and guidelines set out by NHS England.”

A West Herts Hospitals Trust spokesperson said: “It would be highly unusual for a patient to be on a waiting list for more than two years. We have not been given sufficient details to verify the patient’s case and so all we can do is to assure readers of the progress we are making in reducing waiting times for surgery.

“Our current backlog is a result of a national directive last winter which meant that we postponed surgery to free up capacity for our most urgent and emergency patients. We have made good progress in catching up, and we always prioritise those whose clinical need is the greatest. We have increased the number of procedures being carried out at St Albans City Hospital and are working with local private providers. We are also running additional theatre sessions over the weekend.

“The financial penalties have not yet been levied by the CCG and we are in discussion with them about how money from potential fines could be used to good effect to alleviate elective and emergency pressures.”