§ 6. Mr. David Amess (Southend, West)If he will make a statement on the planned funding levels for NHS provision in Wales. [56582]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Wales (Mr. Jon Owen Jones)Following the outcome of the Government's comprehensive spending review, we announced in July an indicative additional budget of more than £1 billion for health for the next three years. My right hon. Friend is consulting on spending plans for 1999–2002 and will announce his decisions later this year.
§ Mr. AmessWill the Minister confirm that, according to the British Medical Association, the concentration of health resources on reducing Labour's record hospital waiting lists is producing clinical distortions, so that patients who need urgent operations must wait longer, while simple procedures are carried out in order to massage the figures?
Mr. JonesI am pleased to announce that, in the next month in which figures will be published, we anticipate a drop of almost 2,000 in the number of in-patient day cases from August to September and a further drop at the end of October. I am not aware that that has been achieved at the expense of people who are waiting longer.