Waiting Lists (Hansard, 8 December 1992)

§ 14. Mr. Bayley
To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will make a statement on patients' waiting times between referral and initial out-patient consultations.

§ Mr. Sackville
Under the patients charter, health authorities are required to publish information on the local standards for first out-patient appointments and on performance against standards. Regional health authorities have been asked to set targets to build on this progress for 1993–94.

§ 18. Mr. Bates
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what progress she expects to make in reducing waiting times under the patients charter.

§ Mr. Sackville
From April 1993, there will be a new and additional patients charter guarantee of a maximum wait of 18 months for a hip or knee replacement or a cataract operation. In addition, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State recently announced that regions would be asked to set targets for waiting time for first out-patient appointments.

§ 19. Mr. Hain
To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will make a statement about the latest figure for waiting lists.
629W

§ Mr. Sackville
On 11 November, I announced provisional waiting time figures for September which showed that the number of patients waiting over a year fell by 3.6 per cent. over the previous quarter.