HC Deb 24 June 1997 vol 296 cc666-7
12. Mr. St. Aubyn

To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many NHS in-patients were waiting over one year for treatment (a) in March 1979 and (b) in the latest month for which figures are available. [3477]

Ms Jowell

On 31 March 1979, there were 185,195 patients waiting more than 12 months for treatment at national health service hospitals—an increase of 24 per cent. over the previous year. The provisional figure for 31 March 1997, the latest available, is 31,318, which represents a 580 per cent. increase in those numbers over the past year. The highest-ever recorded March figure for patients waiting more than one year was the 223,311 who were waiting in March 1989. We now have the highest-ever number of patients waiting—more than 1.1 million.

Mr. St. Aubyn

In view of the reply that the numbers waiting more than one year fell during the period of the previous Government from 185,000 to just 31,000, do the Minister and her colleagues continue to denigrate the previous Government's record on health because they think that waiting lists do not matter; or, if they think that they do matter, what commitment is the Minister prepared to make today to exceed the previous Government's outstanding record of cutting waiting lists to such an extent?

Ms Jowell

We would not set our sights so low as to try to exceed the record of the previous Government. There are 1.1 million patients waiting for treatment—the highest-ever recorded figure. That was the last Government's legacy to the people using the national health service. It is a shameful legacy. We have made promises to patients and we shall keep the promises we made.

Mr. Corbett

Is not the main reason for those appalling figures the indifference to the number of acute surgical and medical beds available to provide such treatment in our hospitals? Will my hon. Friend give an instruction to Mr. Bryan Stoten, who chairs the Birmingham health authority, that, when considering the reorganisation of hospitals in Birmingham, it is bed numbers in those categories that matter, and not his attempt to fulfil his ambition of getting rid of all but one or two of the city's hospitals?

Ms Jowell

My hon. Friend makes an important point in underlining the increase in the number of emergency admissions, which has been a steady trend in recent years for a number of different reasons. The increase in emergency admissions certainly has an impact on the rate at which elective surgery is performed. As for the situation in Birmingham, I am sure that my hon. Friend, who is a Birmingham Member of Parliament, and my hon. Friend the Minister of State will discuss with other Birmingham Members of Parliament the need to maintain a proper balance in patient capacity in line with the development of community and primary care.

Mrs. Ann Winterton

Does the hon. Lady agree that it is not only the numbers of people on waiting lists that are important, but the length of time that those people are on the waiting lists? Does she also agree that cases have to be prioritised? How does she believe that she can improve on the figures that she has inherited if further increased resources, year on year, are not made available?

Ms Jowell

Patients on waiting lists want to be sure of the rate at which they will be treated and that they will be admitted to hospital and treated according to the severity of their condition. In recent years, there has been a collapse of public confidence that patients will be treated on the basis of clinical need and the severity of their illness. Our commitment on breast cancer and eliminating waits for breast cancer surgery is an important step in reassuring women, thousands of whom waited unacceptable lengths of time as a result of previous Government policy.