§ Mr. BercowTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on progress with, and the cost to public funds of, the policy of enabling patients whose operations are cancelled on the day they are due to take place either to choose another date within 28 days at the hospital or to have it carried out at another hospital. [16248]
§ Mr. HuttonI apologise to the hon. Member for the delay in responding to this question. I refer the hon. Member to the reply that my right hon. Friend the756W Secretary of State gave my hon. Friend the Member for Blackpool, North and Fleetwood (Mrs. Humble) on 5 March (at column 192W).
The patients' guarantee will come into force in April 2002. When a patient's operation is cancelled by the hospital on the day of surgery for non-clinical reasons, the hospital will have to offer another binding date within a maximum of the next 28 days or fund the patient's treatment at the time and the hospital of the patient's choice. Patients may choose NHS or private treatment and the NHS will fund the operation. Trusts will meet the cost from their existing budgets.
By reducing overall cancelled operations and ensuring that where patients are cancelled, they are offered another binding date within a maximum of the next 28 days, NHS Trusts will not incur any additional costs.
§ Mr. SwayneTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what is the waiting time for joint replacements at(a) the Southampton University Hospital NHS Trust, (b) the Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospitals NHS Trust and (c) the Poole Hospital NHS Trust. [41690]
§ Ms BlearsAction has been taken to improve waiting times for Orthopaedics waits in Southampton. This included additional consultants, two new operating theatres and 10 additional beds for orthopaedics. An area wide steering group has also been established.
The information collected centrally on joint replacement operations at Southampton University Hospitals NHS Trust and the Royal Bournemouth & Christchurch Hospitals NHS Trust is as follows:
Waiting times for waiting list and booked admissions by main operation and selected NHS trusts, 2000–01. Total joint
replacement operations
Waiting times Southampton University Hospitals NHS Trust Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospitals NHS Trust 0 to 3 months 34 411 3 to 6 months 33 542 6 months to 1 year 65 281 1 to 2 years 387 11 Over 2 years 23 1 Not known 2 129 Total 544 1375 Mean days 458 132 Median days 516 135 Source:
Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), Department of Health
Notes
1. Waiting time statistics from HES are not the same as the published waiting list statistics. HES provides counts and waiting times for all patients admitted to hospital within a given period whereas the published waiting list statistics count those waiting for treatment at a given point in time and how long they have been on the waiting list.
2. HES calculates the waiting time as the difference between the admission and decision to admit dates. Unlike published waiting list statistics, this is not adjusted for self-referrals or periods of medical/social suspension.
3. The main operation is the first of four operation fields in the HES data set and is usually the most resource intensive procedure performed during the episode.
4. Figures in this table have not yet been adjusted for shortfalls in data.
757WThere are no waiting list or booked admissions recorded for the Poole Hospital NHS Trust for these operations.