PATIENTS with psychiatric disorders are getting a lower standard of service in the county according to the latest Department of Health figures.

Patients at mental health units in Buckinghamshire, such as Amersham's Haleacre Unit, face a raw deal when it comes to treatment with 13.4 per cent of psychiatric patients going through emergency re-admission to wards within 90 days of their release. This compares with 5.2 per cent in Oxfordshire and 12.7 per cent nationally. However, Berkshire's figure is 14 per cent. Each Bucks patient costs £5,960, £720 more than the national average.

Other figures show there were 654 heart by-pass operations in the county per million population, compared to an average figure of 784 nationally. The number of deaths in the county from heart disease per 100,000 patients was also lower than the national average of 134, at 108.

Lung cancer patients have a less than average chance of survival in the county, with 3.6 per cent surviving in Buckinghamshire compared with the expected rate of five per cent nationally. The figures were taken from patients diagnosed with the illness between 1991 and 1993 who survived for less than five years.

In the battle against other cancers, the county had 121 deaths from the disease per 100,000 people, 16 lower than the national average, and a 76 per cent survival rate after five years following breast cancer - compared to 74 per cent nationally.

Nationwide, 1.1 per cent of operations were cancelled on the day of admission or the following day for non medical reasons. This figure rose to 1.7 in Buckinghamshire.

Doug Smith, spokesman for Buckinghamshire Health Authority, said about mental health: 'This reflects that a number of patients are being treated outside the county at extra cost rather than being treated within Bucks. The need to increase local provision of services has been recognised by the health authority and NHS Trusts.

'Buckinghamshire has lower rates of coronary heart disease than other areas of the country. We are, however, looking to increase treatment rates in line with national recommendations. We are investigating lung cancer survival rates to better understand the reasons behind these figures.'