§ Mr. Tony LloydTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will make a statement on the diverse throughput rates between health authorities, as revealed in his Department's performance indicators, in relation to the quality of patient care.
§ Mrs. CurrieHealth Service indicators provide evidence which suggests that there are significant variations in the throughput, of patients receiving acute care, achieved by health authorities. Where this is reinforced by similar variations in values for related indicators it implies that there is scope for some authorities to make better use of resources and so provide more services to patients. Questions raised by the indicators need to be examined by managers in the light of other information available locally. This would include achieving the right balance between efficiency and quality of care.
All health authorities have been requested to discuss their indicators for the four years available, the most recent being for 1986–87, by the end of July.