§ Mrs. FyfeTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) how many pain relief clinics there are in each health board area;
(2) what is the greatest travelling distance that a patient could have in order to attend a pain relief clinic;
(3) what is the current average waiting time for a first appointment at each pain relief clinic;
(4) what is his policy on the provision of pain relief clinics;
(5) what plans he has to reduce waiting times for first appointment at pain relief clinics;
(6) how many specialists are employed in pain relief clinics in 1988 and at the latest available date.
§ Mr. StewartThe table identifies, within health board areas, those hospitals which hold pain relief clinics—which are recorded as anaesthetic clinics. The table also lists the average waiting times experienced by those patients who had a first appointment at these clinics during the six months to 30 September 1993.
It is for health boards as purchasers of care to secure from provider units or trusts an appropriate level of pain relief services based on assessment of local need. It is for health boards too to take suitable action on waiting times in light of their own targets. Information on the number of specialists employed in pain relief clinics, and on distances travelled by patients to these clinics, is not held centrally.
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Hospitals with pain relief clinics1 Mean wait where first out-patient appointment recorded during period 1 April 1993 to 30 September 1993 Health board area/hospital Mean wait (days) Argyll and Clyde Inverclyde royal hospital 63 Ayrshire and Arran Crosshouse hospital 47 Ayr hospital 52 Borders Borders general — Dumfries and Galloway Dumfries and Galloway royal infirmary 95 Fife Victoria hospital, Kirkcaldy 109 West Fife DGM (Queen Margaret hospital)2 139 Dunfermline and West Fife hospital3 75 Forth Valley Falkirk and District royal infirmary 67 Stirling royal infirmary 29 Grampian Aberdeen royal infirmary 31 Greater Glasgow Royal infirmary 75 Stobhill hospital 92 Victoria infirmary, Glasgow 102 Southern general hospital 97 Gartnavel general hospital 148 Highland Belford hospital, Fort William — Caithness general hospital 39 Raigmore hospital, Inverness — Lanarkshire
Health board area/hospital Mean wait (days) Monklands district general hospital 82 Law hospital 35 Lothian Edinburgh royal infirmary 72 Western general hospital — Tayside Dundee royal infirmary 160 Perth royal infirmary 53 Ninewells hospital, Dundee — Western Isles Western Isles hospital — All clinics 84 1 Pain relief clinics are recorded as "Anaesthetics". 2 Hospital opened in period. 3 Hospital closed in period.