§ Ms PrimaroloTo ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to her answer of 1 July,Official Report, column 616, if she will give the number of accident and emergency departments in England.
§ Mr. SackvilleIn 1991–92 there were 238 national health service trust hospitals and directly managed units with accident and emergency departments.
§ Mr. FrenchTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what information is known to her Department about average and maximum waiting times for patients attending hospital accident and emergency units.
§ Mr. SackvilleThe patients charter requires health authorities to set a local standard for waiting time for treatment following immediate assessment in accident and emergency departments. Details of performance against this standard are not available centrally, but will appear locally in health authorities' patients charter annual reports.
115WAdditionally, to give patients ready access to information about the level of performance being achieved locally, providers are required to display prominently local standards and how well they are performing against them.