§ Mr. Kilroy-Silkasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) if he will now take urgent steps to reduce the waiting time and the number waiting for heart operations on Merseyside;
(2) what action has been taken on Merseyside since the Adjournment debate of the hon. Member for Ormskirk in 1978, to reduce the waiting list and waiting time of patients waiting for open heart surgery;
(3) why the situation for heart patients awaiting surgery on Merseyside has deteriorated since 1978, when ministerial assurances were given, both in Parliament and in letters to the hon. Member for Ormskirk; and what action has been taken to improve the situation.
§ Dr. VaughanIt is for the Liverpool area health authority (teaching) to determine what action needs to be taken in connection with waiting lists and waiting times. A capital scheme to provide all adult cardiology facilities at Broadgreen hospital commenced on 29 November 1979. Patients have been referred to hospitals elsewhere in the country to help reduce the waiting list for open heart surgery; details were provided in my hon. Friend's reply to the hon. Member on 13 March.
375WAt 31 March 1978, the date for which figures were available in November 1978 when the hon. Member for Ormskirk raised the matter on the Adjournment, 109 adults and 64 children were waiting for open heart surgery. In December 1979 corresponding figures were 82 and 48 respectively.—[Vol. 980, c. 676; Vol. 957, c. 1339–50.]