§ Mr. Gerald HowarthTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many(a) officers and (b) other ranks are awaiting medical treatment; and how many of these have been waiting over three months. [53872]
§ Dr. MoonieService patients are mainly treated in Defence Secondary Care Agency (DSCA) administered Ministry of Defence Hospital Units (MDHUs) situated in National Health Service (NHS) Trusts, in other NHS hospitals as NHS patients or in DSCA Directly Managed Units in the United Kingdom and overseas. The Army administers secondary care in Northern Ireland. The British Forces Germany Health Service provides secondary care for Service personnel in Germany, where there are generally no waiting lists.
The MOD only maintains central records on the overall number of Armed Forces patients awaiting inpatient treatment (including daycase surgery) at MDHUs. MDHU waiting list information as at 31 December 2001 for all MDHUs except Portsmouth, for which the waiting list information is at 30 September 2001, is provided in the following table. These are the latest dates for which information is available.
Waiting time (months) Number of service patients waiting 0–3 months 1,166 3+ months 897 Total waiting 2,063