§ 8. Mr. Hunterasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what reductions there have been in recent months in National Health Service waiting lists in the Wessex region.
§ Mr. NewtonInformation on month-by-month changes of patients on the in-patient waiting lists is not available 130 centrally. The latest published figures show a decline of 4.1 per cent. in the size of the lists between 31 March 1985 and 31 March 1986, although there was a small increase of 2.6 per cent. in the figures between 30 September 1985 and 31 March 1986.
§ Mr. HunterWhile acknowledging and applauding the Government's achievement in reducing NHS waiting lists during the past four or five years nationally in the Wessex region, may I say that the length of waiting lists remains a matter of some anxiety? What further measures does my hon. Friend propose to help the position?
§ Mr. NewtonMy hon. Friend will be aware of the initiative launched by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Social Services earlier in the year. I am glad to say that we have received some positive and helpful reports from the regional health authority and its districts. At present we are considering how to use the £50 million over two years that will be put behind those efforts.
§ Dr. MarekDoes the Minister realise that if he had answered the question truthfully he would have said, "None. Waiting lists have increased. I regret that and I shall do everything that I can to bring them down."? The Minister would not only have announced the 2.6 per cent. figure. He would have said that, within that 2.6 per cent. figure, urgent cases have increased by 7.6 per cent. over the six-month period covered by the figures.
Does the Minister realise that 10,000 non-urgent cases have been waiting for more than one year in that regional health authority, and that more than 2,000 urgent cases have been waiting for more than one month? Does he realise that the peanuts that he has given as extra resources to bring down waiting lists will not achieve that? Waiting lists have not decreased, and are even worse than the Minister says because he has recently massaged the figures. Will he come clean about that?
§ Mr. NewtonIf I sought to match the hon. Gentleman's evident desire to have a political punch-up, I would have made the point that the waiting lists now, whatever may have happened during the six months to March, are much lower than those that were left behind by the Labour Government.