§ Lord Molloy asked Her Majesty's Government:
§ What guidance they will give to hospitals and area health authorities on giving priority to treatment within the National Health Service.
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Baroness Cumberlege)My Lords, the Government give direction to the health service on strategic priorities. Within this framework, health authorities have responsibility for setting the broad priorities to meet the health needs of their local population. But they recognise that clinicians are best placed to take decisions on the treatment needs of individual patients.
§ Lord MolloyMy Lords, I thank the noble Baroness for that reply. Is she aware that hospitals and many area health authorities are deeply concerned about the long waits? Inter alia the situation forces people to pay for treatment which they cannot afford. They either run into debt or become terribly financially embarrassed simply because they wish to remain fit. Is it not about time that the Government, who knew that the problem would arise, made further efforts to prevent this situation getting worse? Is the noble Baroness also aware that many private organisations which are concerned with health buy NHS beds for their private patients, which is surely totally dishonourable and not in keeping with the National Health Service?
§ Baroness CumberlegeMy Lords, the Government have never spent more on the National Health Service. Every day £100 million is spent on the NHS. It is up to local managers to manage in partnership with their clinicians. With regard to waiting lists, the number of people waiting for more than a year is the lowest ever recorded. Over 92 per cent. of patients on waiting lists have been waiting less than a year and regions no longer have patients waiting two years or more for any in-patient or day case treatment.
§ Lord DesaiMy Lords would the Minister care to comment on the fact that, although the number of people who have been waiting for two years has gone down, the total number of people on waiting lists is now 976,769? Is she aware that, especially in the case of those waiting for heart transplant operations, there is a serious danger that people will miss their place in the queue because other operations, such as hip replacements, are being given priority?
§ Baroness CumberlegeMy Lords, it is up to local authorities to decide their priorities. It is the length of time that patients wait that matters much more than the total number of patients waiting on a list. Half of all admissions are immediate. Of those admitted from waiting lists, half are admitted within five weeks, nearly three-quarters within three months and, as I said, 95 per cent. within a year.
§ Lord MolloyMy Lords, is the Minister aware that many staff associations as well as the BMA and, in particular, the Confederation of Health Service Employees, supported the Government when they said that after 40 years there ought to be an examination of the National Health Service? They supported the Government then and they want to support the Government now. Why cannot the Government gather together people from the BMA and the Confederation of Health Service Employees (which covers nurses, ambulance drivers and hospital staff) to make some endeavour to reduce the waiting lists?
§ Baroness CumberlegeMy Lords, the waiting times are going down dramatically. The Government work very closely with the associations involved in the National Health Service. In fact, your Lordships carried out a very thorough review when you passed the National Health Service and Community Care Act two years ago.