Hospitals and health trusts in the West Midlands have cut waiting times, with more than half of NHS inpatients receiving treatment within 18 weeks.

The Government has set a target that by the end of 2008, nobody should wait more than 18 weeks from referral by a GP to the start of treatment.

But the target is already being met for 54 per cent of patients in the West Midlands.

The region is beating the national average of 48 per cent of patients being treated in 18 weeks.

The worst performing region is the Southeast, where the target was met for 33 per cent of patients.

However, opposition parties questioned whether hospitals and trusts could improve quickly enough to ensure the target was met for every patient when it comes into effect next year.

And the Government admitted than one in eight patients were still having to wait for more than a year.

Patients are most likely to experience long waits for treatment in orthopaedics and trauma, ophthalmology, gynaecology and ear nose and throat, or for general surgery.

The figures are based on inpatients who completed their treatment in the month of March.

A spokesperson for West Midlands Strategic Health Authority said: "These figures show encouraging progress that health services across the West Midlands have made towards offering patients even shorter waiting times.

"The figures are evidence of the hard work that local NHS organisations are undertaking to achieve the target.

"These figures represent a different way of measuring waiting times, one that more accurately reflects patients' experience of local health services.

"We are confident, however, that all our organisations will deliver throughout the rest of this year and next, ensuring that we meet the national target of all patients."

West Midlands hospital trusts treating 100 per cent of patients within 18 weeks include:

* Heart of England NHS Trust, which runs Heartlands Hospital in Birmingham and Solihull hospital.

* The trusts responsible for City Hospital in Birmingham and the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham;

* Hospitals in Warwick and Stratford, Warwickshire, and Shrewsbury and Telford, Shropshire.

Three of the top five Primary Care Trusts are also in the West Midlands.

* Solihull, which is treating 94 per cent of patients within 18 weeks.

* South Birmingham, also 94 per cent.

* Heart of Birmingham Teaching, on 93 per cent.