GARETH Roper and Kenneth Fleet are at opposite ends of the age spectrum - but they suffer the same frustrations because of NHS waiting lists.

Eight-year-old Gareth, from Malpas, Newport, pictured with dad Stephen and mum Diane, has been waiting two years to have his adenoids removed, and grommets fitted to help improve his hearing.

Mr Fleet, aged 73, of Elm Grove Road, Newport, has waited more than three years for a hip replacement.

Their stories are related below.

Despite millions of pounds of investment in recent years in the quest to bring down waiting lists and waiting times in Wales, the problem remains a stubborn one, and one that will take up a sizeable share of the extra cash announced in the Budget.

Orthopaedic waiting lists present the largest challenge, in Gwent and across the rest of Wales.

By the end of July, no patients in Wales should have been waiting more than 18 months for orthopaedic surgery, a target set by health minister Jane Hutt.

Gwent Healthcare Trust is confident it can meet this target, though Mr Fleet is sceptical. But one thing is certain.

Tens of millions of pounds have been poured into addressing the problem with orthopaedics and more will be needed - for new surgeons and new facilities, as well as meeting the other costs of operations - before waiting times are reduced to more acceptable limits.

Ear, nose and throat (ENT) surgery meanwhile, has been hit by difficulties and delays over the introduction - in the wake of worries over variant CJD - of single-use surgical instruments for removing tonsils and adenoids.

A new rule which barred registrars from performing ENT surgery without the presence of a consultant also hit the specialty.

In Gwent, around 1,000 operations worth of surgery sessions were lost as a result last year and with not enough consultants to fill the gap, ENT waiting lists and times have grown.

The trust and Gwent Health Authority regularly review the waiting times situation, especially those areas where specific targets for reducing times have been set by the Assembly.

The biggest threat to achievement of these targets is the seemingly inexorable rise of emergency medical admissions, which can regularly spill over into beds earmarked for surgical patients.

This can result in operations being cancelled and can be more of a problem in orthopaedics where infection control issues raised by invasive surgery mean patients cannot be kept in wards where there are medical patients.

* Gareth Roper's story

DIANE Roper is "absolutely disgusted" with the NHS, which in her view has kept her son waiting more than two years for relatively simple surgery to help restore his hearing.

The surgery he requires would help Gareth's hearing, which in his left ear is, in his mum's words, "virtually non-existent".

"My husband Steve and I first noticed Gareth had trouble with his hearing when he was four," said Mrs Roper, of Claremont, Malpas.

"By the time he went to Clytha Clinic and was given an appointment to see a consultant at the Royal Gwent Hospital, who agreed he needed an operation, he was six.

"We've been waiting ever since for an operation date and I think it is disgusting. I've lost all faith in the NHS and haven't got a good word to say about it for making my child wait this long.

"The first years in school are crucial for any child but there doesn't seem to be any understanding or sympathy for Gareth's hearing difficulties.

"If you didn't know Gareth you'd think he's an ignorant child, but he isn't at all. It's because of his poor hearing. Things such as swimming and football are difficult for him because he can't hear instructions from the side of the pool or field.

"We're just lucky his schooling isn't suffering because he sits near the front of the class and his teacher has a particularly loud voice."

Mrs Roper was infuriated further when she found Gareth, who also has a three-year-old sister Sian, could have the operation almost immediately if the family paid £1,500 and £2,000 for private treatment.

"The fee is absolutely astronomical and it seems to me if you haven't got that money then it's just tough luck," she said.

* Kenneth Fleet's story

KENNETH Fleet has been promised his hip replacement operation by the end of July, but he is not convinced his painful wait is nearly at an end.

The former BT worker has been on the waiting list for a hip replacement since March 1999.

He is among those patients who must have their operations by the end of July if the target that by the end of July no-one in Wales should have been waiting more than 18 months for orthopaedic surgery, is to be met.

Mr Fleet, of Elm Grove Road, Newport, is sceptical about this and though he welcomes the extra investment in the NHS signalled by the Budget, he believes patients will keep having to wait too long for operations.

"I'm not hopeful of being seen by the end of July," he said.

"It's only three months to the deadline and there must be a lot of others waiting longer than 18 months."

Mr Fleet has an artificial right hip, but in 1998 began to get pains in his left hip and leg.

He used to play bowls, danced regularly and enjoyed a spot of gardening. Now he can only walk about 100 yards with the aid of a stick and is in constant pain unless sitting down.

"Four years ago in August I saw a consultant at the Royal Gwent In February 1999 I had a biopsy, saw a consultant again in March 1999 and was being put on the official waiting list. I have been waiting ever since," he said.

Last January he inquired about his operation and was told of the end-of-July target.

"I think the problem is the number of staff available to do the job. The Chancellor may have been putting money into the NHS but we need the people to do the work.

"Raising taxes to put money into the NHS is all very well and certainly something needs to be done.

"But you won't get more surgeons and nurses overnight and people will still be waiting for a good few years yet."