§ Mr. RedmondTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what is the current patients' charter standard for waiting for attention on an out-patient visit; and how such waiting time standards are measured.
§ Mr. MaloneThe patients charter national standard requires that a patient be given a specific appointment time and be seen within 30 minutes of that time. Monitoring of this standard is done locally using guidance issued by the Department, copies of which will be placed in the Library. The waiting time to be measured is from the time of the appointment to the time the patient is actually seen for the main consultation.