§ Mr. AshdownTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what is his estimate of the number of people waiting for outpatient appointments at the(a) East Somerset Health Trust and (b) Taunton and Somerset Health Trust on 1 February for each of the years (i) 1995–96, (ii) 1996–97, (iii) 1997–98, (iv) 1998–99 and (v) 1999–2000; and if he will make a statement. [114180]
§ Mr. Denham[holding answer 14 March 2000]: The Department does not collect information on the total number of people waiting for outpatient appointments on any given day. Because of the high turnover of outpatient waiting lists (75 per cent. of patients are seen within 13 weeks) it would not be a useful indicator to have the total number of waiting at the last day of the quarter.