§ Mr. ButlerTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what the(a) in-patient and (b) out-patient waiting lists were in (i) England, (ii) the Mersey regional health authority and (iii) Warrington district health authority in 1979 and at the latest available date.
§ Mrs. Virginia BottomleyThe information requested on in-patients is given in the table. Out-patient waiting list information is not collected centrally. It is the time individual patients wait that matters, not the total numbers on the list. Numbers waiting more than one year for in-patient treatment have fallen by 7 per cent. in England since 1979. In Mersey they have fallen by 73 per cent. and in Warrington by 97 per cent. in the same period.
Numbers treated have increased since 1979. In 1989–90 in the order of 38 per cent. more in-patients were treated than in 1979 in England as a whole, 40 per cent. more were treated in Mersey region and 65 per cent. more in Warrington health authority.
Numbers on in-patient waiting list 1979 and 1989–90 England Mersey RHA Warrington DHA March 19791 752,422 41,103 3,360 September 19901 705,706 29,609 1,756 1 Figures exclude self-deferred cases. Source:
SM 12; 1979 SBH 203 return.
1990 KH06, KH07, KHO7A returns.