§ Lord Swinfenasked Her Majesty's Government:
What steps they are taking to improve co-operation between the Ministry of Defence and the Department of Health to ensure that servicemen and their families who require in-patient treatment in hospital do not revert to the bottom of hospital waiting lists due to the servicemen's postings to different parts of the United Kingdom.
§ Baroness Jay of PaddingtonThe priority individual patients are given once on a waiting list is a clinical matter.
However, hospitals accepting patients who have moved into their area have been asked to consider what account they are able to take of the time patients have already spent on waiting lists at other hospitals.
Officials of the Ministry of Defence and the Department of Health have jointly recognised that service personnel and their dependents may be concerned about transferring to a new waiting list for 197WA hospital treatment as a result of a posting within the United Kingdom, or when returning from overseas. Officials will examine individual cases of extended delay in receiving treatment.