NHS: Hospital Waiting Lists

HL Deb 31 January 1991 vol 525 cc796-7

3.23 p.m.

Lord Molloy asked Her Majesty's Government:

What extra financial help is available for health authorities to provide more beds to curb rising waiting lists.

Lord Cavendish of Furness

My Lords, it is the time patients wait which is important, and that is reducing. We are continuing the special waiting list fund in 1991–92 with a further £35 million to help health authorities make continued progress in tackling long waiting times.

Lord Molloy

My Lords, I thank the noble Lord for that reply. Is he aware that illness rationing, the removal of certain diseases from the emergency list and the cutting back of the emergency bed service represent a savage departure from the principles of our National Health Service?

Lord Cavendish of Furness

My Lords, if the noble Lord is referring to exclusions, there is no question of denying treatment to people who need it. The decision whether to put a patient on a waiting list remains a clinical one. Duncan Nichol, the health service chief executive, has written to regional managers to emphasis that.

Baroness Gardner of Parkes

My Lords, is it not a fact that it has recently been announced that more money is to be given to regional health authorities to be used in any way they see fit? Is it not also important to remember that waiting lists can be cut by other means, such as the use of more day surgery? Does my noble friend agree that beds themselves are not the answer and that it is the use made of those beds which is important? Beds should be used to best advantage.

Lord Cavendish of Furness

My Lords, indeed, additional money is being made available for the waiting list fund to which I referred. Our special waiting list fund of £154 million over five years has helped health authorities to tackle the problem of long waits. Hundreds of thousands of additional patients have been treated as a result and waiting times have been reduced. It is the case that there are other ways of reducing waiting lists. The number of day patients increased by 17 per cent. to March 1990, reflecting the increased number of patients treated on that basis.

Lord Ennals

My Lords, further to the Question of my noble friend Lord Molloy, will the Minister comment specifically on the decision of the North-Eastern Regional Health Authority to deal with its historically long waiting list by restricting the cases, such as varicose veins, which can be put on the waiting lists? Since the region is merely an agent of the Secretary of State, was that decision approved by the Secretary of State? Is that likely to be a policy which will be adopted across the country and will the National Health Service now cut back on certain treatments which have been available until now?

Lord Cavendish of Furness

My Lords, I am not aware that that is the policy. As I said, nobody who needs treatment is being denied it. Treatment is a clinical decision.

Lord Molloy

My Lords, the noble Lord must be aware that in most regions hospitals have been closed. Is he also aware that that is causing grave anxiety, not only among ordinary people but also among the medical profession? I could arrange a meeting for the Minister with many eminent people from the medical profession who know those facts. Can he say what is the current rate—which is said to be alarming—of reduction in the number of hospital beds throughout the country?

Lord Cavendish of Furness

My Lords, the question of hospital closures does not appear directly on the Order Paper and I am not aware how many, if any, are being closed. As the noble Lord knows, there is a considerable consultation process and if there is disagreement among local bodies the matter is referred to my right honourable friend the Secretary of State. There is no simple relationship between numbers of beds, patients treated and waiting lists. I acknowledge that over the past year the number of beds available fell by 4.6 per cent., but the number of patients treated increased by 4.4 per cent. The number of patients waiting for more than a year fell by 7 per cent. The National Health Service exists to treat patients, not to hoard beds.