§ Mrs. Renée Shortasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will list in the Official Report the hospitals in the West Midlands region where restrictions on non-urgent admissions were introduced in 1986, month by month; and how many beds were closed in each case.
§ Mr. NewtonI regret that the information requested by the hon. Member is not held centrally. The hon. Member may wish to write to the chairman of the West Midlands regional health authority for the information she seeks.
Waiting lists and times for in-patient treatment in the west midlands are falling. There were 79,293 patients waiting at 30 September 1986 compared with a peak of 89,858 in March 1979. The number of non-urgent patients waiting for more than a year fell to 22,174 in September 1986 from a peak of 33,559 in September 1979. My right hon. Friend recently announced a major three-year initiative on waiting lists and times and we anticipate further substantial reductions to be achieved as a result of the positive action planned by regional and district health authorities.
§ Mr. Meacherasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will list, for each region, all the hospitals that did not admit patients for elective surgery at some time during last year, and the number of days they did not make such admissions in each case.
§ Mrs. CurrieNo comprehensive record of the occasions on which elective surgery has been suspended is kept centrally. There may be a variety of reasons, planned and unplanned, why elective surgery has to be suspended for a short period in a particular hospital. Day-to-day management of facilities within each hospital is a matter for the health authorities concerned.
§ Mr. Meacherasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many hospitals in each region are now refusing all but emergency admissions; and what percentage of hospitals this is in each region.
§ Mrs. CurrieI shall let the hon. Member have a reply as soon as possible.