§ Mr. Kilroy-Silkasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many people are on the waiting lists and what is the length of wait for (a) men, (b) women and (c) children awaiting investigatory operations and open heart surgery in each of the 14 regional health areas.
§ Mr. Moyle,pursuant to his reply [Official Report, 12th July 1978; Vol.953, c. 613], gave the following information:
Information on the age and sex of patients on the waiting list for cardiac surgery is not available, and the form of the information on duration of wait varies so greatly that meaningful regional comparisons are not possible. However, I am writing to my hon. Friend setting out the detailed information recently obtained from regional health authorities. The 139W total number of patients waiting for investigatory operations and open heart surgery in the 14 health regions at 31st March 1978 or later is as follows:
Region Investigatory Operations Open Heart Surgery Northern 259 268 Yorkshire 47 86 Trent 283 287 East Anglia 56 14 North West Thames 174 207 North East Thames 144* South East Thames 303 144 South West Thames 95 115 Wessex 25 76 Oxford 103 78 South Western 24 43 West Midlands 273 364 Mersey 581 173 North Western 210 105 * Separate figures not available.