§ Mr. Moateasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what steps he will take to help district health authorities like the Medway Authority which are charged as much as £30,000 for the collection of refuse by local authorities so as to enable such money to be spent on medical resources.
§ Mr. MoyleUnder the Public Health Act 1936 district councils in England and Wales may levy charges for the collection of wastes from hospitals, and expenditure on such services falls to be met from the normal revenue allocations of health authorities. The Department's
(i) (ii) (iii) Total number of cases on waiting-list for traumatic and orthopaedic surgery Number included in column (i) which were non-urgent Percentage of non-urgent cases waiting more than one year Norfolk … … … 2,481 2,122 47 England … … … 93,780 85,067 32 Information obtained locally in July 1977 shows the number of patients in the Norfolk Health Area, awaiting joint replacement operations only, to be 672. Of this number 318 have been waiting more than one year. I understand that the waiting time for most non-urgent admissions from the waiting list for traumatic and orthopaedic surgery in Norfolk is two and a half to three years, but at present there are some restrictions on admissions from the list, so waiting time may become longer. Corresponding information for the country as a whole is not readily available in either respect.