§ 3. Mr. Charles Kennedy (Ross, Skye and Inverness, West)If he will make a statement on hospital waiting lists in the Highland health board area. [41252]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Scotland (Mr. Sam Galbraith)Highland health board's waiting list at 31 March 1998 was 3,616. More than 80 per cent. of people on the list in Highland are seen within three months.
§ Mr. KennedyI thank the Minister for that reply and acknowledge the welcome progress that has been made in most areas both in meeting the agreed patient targets that were set between the Scottish Office and the health board and in reducing waiting times. Nevertheless, I draw the Minister's attention to two areas that are causing concern: the waiting time for gynaecology appointments and for orthopaedic out-patient appointments. In both cases, the numbers are falling significantly short of the agreed targets. The Minister has been very helpful regarding the issue of surgical services on Skye and their future provision. Given that the health board is meeting to discuss that matter today, will he—like me—urge it to bear in mind those more disappointing statistics when it comes to deciding on the correct nature and level of future provision for Skye?
§ Mr. GalbraithAs the hon. Gentleman knows, I was a surgeon at the hospital on Skye and I had a most 717 splendid time on the island. [Interruption] Thank you very much indeed. The Highland health board is trying to integrate the service in Inverness with that in Skye and to open up the service and expand the range of facilities on Skye. I heartily recommend that, as it will have the added benefit of reducing waiting lists and waiting times in the area. We have allocated £44.5 million to tackling the problems that the hon. Gentleman has highlighted. He has my assurance that waiting lists and waiting times will come down in the very near future.
§ Mr. Malcolm Savidge (Aberdeen, North)Regarding hospital waiting lists, will the Minister make a statement about how Government policy is affecting hospital provision in the north of Scotland?
§ Mr. GalbraithThat question is very wide and I think that Madam Speaker would be upset if I took too much time to answer it.
§ Madam SpeakerI certainly would.
§ Mr. GalbraithI shall highlight only one area. Aberdeen is to have a new children's hospital. That has come about because Government policy has led to co-operation between the trusts. If it were not for a Labour Government, that hospital would never have been built.
§ Mr. Michael Ancram (Devizes)Given the Government's failure to meet the targets referred to by the hon. Member for Ross, Skye and Inverness, West (Mr. Kennedy), who raised this question, given Labour's pledge at the general election that they would cut NHS waiting lists not in the longer term but as a first step, and given that waiting lists in Scotland have increased by 5,000 overall, rather than being disappointed—as he expressed himself to be—is the Minister now ashamed?
§ Mr. GalbraithI do not think that I need to take any lessons about waiting lists or waiting times from the right hon. Gentleman. Under his Government, waiting lists rose month by month and year by year. We shall reverse that trend. In Scotland, we have allocated £44.5 million to tackling that problem. The right hon. Gentleman should be a bit careful about what he says because, when waiting lists are lower than the level that we inherited from the previous Government, I will expect him to come to the Dispatch Box and congratulate us heartily.
§ Mr. AncramI do not want to give the Minister a lesson in what direction is up and what is down, but the current figures do not seem to match the pledge given at the election. Can the Minister tell the House why the pledge to cut hospital waiting lists was strangely absent from a recent consultative survey issued by the Labour party asking people how they thought that the Government were performing in relation to their pledges? As that has disappeared, does the hon. Gentleman not think that he should do the honourable thing and go, too?
§ Mr. GalbraithI am a bit surprised by the right hon. Gentleman: I thought that he was a bigger politician and would not use such cheap jibes. We have put £44.5 million into waiting lists. We shall get them down until they are lower than the level that we inherited from the right hon. Gentleman's Government.