§ 8. Mr. Jon Owen JonesTo ask the Secretary of State for Health in what circumstances one patient's treatment in hospital can be counted under Department of Health statistical rules as more than one finished consultant episode.
§ Mr. SackvilleA patient's treatment in hospital may comprise more than one consultant episode if a hospital patient is transferred from the care of one consultant to that of another, or if a patient is discharged and then subsequently readmitted.
§ Mr. JonesIn other words, there is double and triple counting. When do the Government intend to use reliable and accurate figures for patient numbers rather than inaccurate and inflated figures? Or do they prefer to use fiddled figures rather than the real values?
§ Mr. SackvilleWhat the hon. Gentleman has said is an insult to all the people who work in the national health service, including the statisticians. They agree with Dr. Edith Korner who, in the 1980s, chaired a committee which concluded that patient activity was best measured by the numbers of consultant episodes and that the 135 number of deaths and discharges, which had been used previously, was not the correct way to measured hospital activity.
§ Mr. Harry GreenwayDoes my hon. Friend accept that some patients do not wish to be treated in mixed wards and are determined to stay in single-sex wards? Can he give a guarantee that if a patient chooses to be treated in a single-sex ward he or she will be placed in one?
§ Madam SpeakerOrder. The hon. Gentleman should know better. There is a question on the Order Paper—No. 18—about single-sex wards, if we ever get to it. Let us have a quick answer.
§ Mr. SackvilleThis is a matter with which we shall deal with great urgency.