§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many children have been born profoundly deaf in each of the last five years; and how many specialised centres there are for their treatment in the United Kingdom.
§ Mr. MajorNo precise estimates are available but it is generally accepted that around one child in every 1,000 is born profoundly deaf. Responsibility for their treatment rests with individual health authorities and detailed information about the specific facilities provided is not collected centrally.
§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services when he intends to ease the conditions for compensation for industrial noise deafness; and to what extent an extension is affected by the current level of provision for audiological testing.
§ Mr. MajorNoise-induced hearing loss was prescribed as an industrial disease on 28 October 1974 on the basis of recommendations in a report by the Industrial Injuries Advisory Council (Cmnd. 5461 October 1973). In that and subsequent reports the recommendations have been influenced, among other things, by the availability of audiological resources.
A further report is expected this year. Whatever the recommendations, these will be considered carefully, and in the light of other demands on the social security system.
Cases on in-patient waiting list for admission to NHS hospitals for general surgery at 30 September Change between Regional health authorities 1979 Number of cases
1983 Number of cases
1986 Number of cases
1979–86 Number
Percentage 1983–86 Number
Percentage Northern 10,740 9,906 9,034 -1,706 -15.9 -872 -8.8 Yorkshire 10,759 10,408 8,413 -2,346 -21.8 -1,995 -19.2 Trent 17,409 15,297 10,958 -6,451 -37.1 -4,339 -28.4 East Anglia 7,841 5,991 5,458 -2,383 -30.4 -533 -8.9 North West Thames1 11,041 9,592 10,420 -621 -5.6 828 8.6 North East Thames1 13,208 11,946 13,781 573 4.3 1,835 15.4 South East Thames1 12,708 11,719 13,373 665 5.2 1,654 14.1 South West Thames1 9,347 8,219 7,049 -2,298 -24.6 -1,170 -14.2 Wessex 8,802 9,883 9,407 605 6.9 -476 -4.8 Oxford 9,591 8,965 7,372 -2,219 -23.1 -1,593 -17.8 South Western 12,677 10,416 10,099 -2,578 -20.3 -317 -3.0 West Midlands 23,745 21,649 17,891 -5,854 -24.7 -3,758 -17.4