HC Deb 06 November 1989 vol 159 cc657-61
2. Mrs. Clwyd

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will list the current in-patient and out-patient hospital waiting lists in each of the Welsh area health authorites, by specialty.

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Wales (Mr. Ian Grist)

As the answer contains numerous figures I will with permission, Mr. Speaker, circulate the information in the Official Report.

Mrs. Clwyd

Is it not true that while the figures for mid-Glamorgan show a slight improvement, within those figures there is another tale, especially in the Cynon-Merthyr area? Is it not a fact that, over the past five years, the number of in-patients and out-patients waiting for hospital treatment has remained more or less the same? Is that the best that the Minister can do?

Mr. Grist

First, may I congratulate the hon. Lady on her electoral success and take leave to evince that I do not think that she will ever hide behind her convictions.

I think that the hon. Lady would like to join me in congratulating her health authority on the 30 per cent. reduction between March 1987 and March 1989 in the number of in-patients waiting more than one year for treatment.

Sir Anthony Meyer

Can my hon. Friend say anything about the proposed treatment centres intended to shorten waiting lists for certain forms of treatment?

31 March 1989 Out-Patients Waiting List
Specialty Pembrokeshire Clwyd East Dyfed Gwent Gwynedd Mid Glamorgan Powys South Glamorgan West Glamorgan Wales
General Medicine 180 510 357 674 523 908 9 792 328 4,281
Paediatrics 39 144 85 121 62 205 27 448 103 1,234
Chest Disease 14 14 68 15 78 94 17 300
Dermatology 465 760 724 2,304 226 3,174 41 2,354 2,016 12,064
Neurology 114 176 16 33 23 9 634 705 1,710
Mr. Grist

Yes. My hon. Friend knows that Ysbyty Gwynedd will have one of the treatment centres. We debated them fully in the Welsh Grand Committee last week. The centres will speed up operations for people on waiting lists. Although I do not wish to overemphasise waiting lists, the centres will make a major contribution to shortening the waiting lists which we all deplore.

Mr. Livsey

Does the Minister agree that Powys health authority should be congratulated on its attempts to reduce waiting lists by means of its health education programme aimed at eliminating hydatid disease? Does he further agree that such a programme would be more effective if the Welsh Office fully funded a dog-worming scheme, as has been done in New Zealand where the disease has been practically eliminated? Was it not self-evident on Saturday, from the way in which the New Zealand team performed, that that had been effective?

Mr. Grist

I did not know that it was a case of a need for worming. The hon. Gentleman raises an interesting point. He will be aware that the Welsh Office funded a worming programme which has now been handed over successfully to the Powys health authority, which has welcomed the programme.

Mr. Michael

Will the Minister confirm that he has not given us three treatment centres to tackle waiting lists, but merely an extension of the time of three consultants and support staff? That hardly amounts to three centres. Will he further confirm that all health authorities in Wales are having to make cuts and savings in the middle of the current financial year because of the Government's economic failure? What does he intend to do about that? Will he make available a special allocation of funds to tackle the £130 million repairs backlog in Welsh hospitals? Will he now address the problem of waiting lists in Wales, which he has so far failed to tackle?

Mr. Grist

I can confirm that authorities are expected to raise 1.3 per cent. of their funding through cost improvements and income-generation schemes, as they have successfully done in the past. We anticipate that on top of the 7.3 per cent. increase in funding, that will be sufficient to meet their immediate requirements. On all the other matters that the hon. Gentleman mentioned, such as upkeep and the £130 million backlog, he might like to take into account that when his party was in office, health authorities did not even know the capital value of their stocks because they did not bother to record them. Of the enormous value of hospital stocks in Wales, £130 million is a small proportion. Every hon. Member knows of old hospitals in his constituency that are due to be changed, modernised or closed and replaced with new facilities. That is included in those figures.

Following is the information:

31 March 1989 Out-Patients Waiting List
Specialty Pembrokeshire Clwyd East Dyfed Gwent Gwynedd Mid Glamorgan Powys South Glamorgan West Glamorgan Wales
Cardiology 1 462 463
Phys Med/Rehab
STD
Rheumatology 94 72 436 923 8 435 455 2,423
Geriatrics 2 30 14 24 32 50 152
Younger Disabled
General Surgery 409 1,301 849 1,646 785 1,612 97 2,847 1,568 11,114
ENT 920 1,376 1,300 1,572 834 2,641 261 2,648 2,363 13,915
Trau and Orth 757 1,182 839 2,721 708 3,219 275 3,111 3,169 15,981
Ophthalmology 84 1,043 360 864 1,302 1,787 186 1,523 1,377 8,526
Radiotherapy 16 26 15 57
Urology 490 128 170 633 1,524 2,945
Plastic Surgery 206 39 208 26 26 169 674
Thoracic Surgery 2 2
Dental Surgery 32 517 109 902 224 204 37 304 519 2,848
Orthodontics 20 230 260 330 86 87 92 1,352 321 2,778
Neurosurgery 5 7 82 26 120
Gynaecology 196 826 605 1,307 424 1,614 28 1,233 1,152 7,385
Psych Children 47 46 34 127
Mental H'Cap
Mental Illness 67 62 259 33 454 3 210 85 1,173
Adol Psych Units
GP Medical
GP Dental
Others:—
Pain Relief 50 6 6 13 75
Colposcopy 17 17
Obstetrics 171 32 59 262
Haematology 5 8 14 8 35
Sex. Dysfunction 6 6
Cardiac Surgery 56 56
Psycho Geriatric 22 22
Total 3,135 9,200 5,890 13,616 5,360 17,223 1,073 19,294 15,954 90,745

31 March 1989 In-Palients Waiting List
Specialty Pembrokeshire Clwyd East Dyfed Gwent Gwynedd Mid Glamorgan Powys South Glamorgan West Glamorgan Wales
General Medicine 5 39 2 46
Paediatrics 135 135
Chest Disease
Dermatology 9 5 14
Neurology 63 18 81
Cardiology 110 110
Physical Medical Rehabilitation 151 151
STD
Rheumatology 28 10 2 60 100
Geriatrics 1 12 4 17
Younger Disabled
General Surgery 1,457 1,118 940 1,762 843 1,742 1,299 1,264 10,425
ENT 1,215 479 914 735 2,124 737 1,057 7,261
Trauma and Orthopaedic 800 904 436 2,043 119 1,132 1,801 1,079 8,314
Ophthalmology 356 674 868 611 397 633 964 4,503
Radiotherapy 54 16 70
Urology 568 651 66 822 81 2,188
Plastic Surgery 2,049 2,049
Thoracic Surgery
Dental Surgery 267 266 354 140 255 418 1,700
Orthodontics
Neurosurgery 54 79 133
Gynaecology 232 706 229 938 272 862 470 706 4,415
Psych Children
Mental Handicap
Mental Illness 6 6 12
Adolescent Psych Units
GP Medical 113 113
GP Dental 8 8
31 March 1989 In-Patients Waiting List
Specialty Pembrokeshire Clwyd East Dyfed Gwent Gwynedd Mid Glamorgan Powys South Glamorgan West Glamorgan Wales
Others
Pain Relief
Colposcopy
Obstetrics
Haematology
Sexual Dysfunction
Cardiac Surgery 119 119
Psycho Geriatric
TOTAL 2,489 5,139 2,776 9,531 2,934 6,630 117 6,598 5,750 41,964
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