§ Mr. Hudson Daviesasked the Secretary of State for Wales if he will give the March and September figures, from March 1977 until March 1980, for the number of patients with conditions classified as urgent who were awaiting admission to National Health Service hospitals in Wales; how many had to wait for more than one month; and how many for more than three months.
§ Mr. Wyn RobertsThe information in the form requested is available only for the specialties of general surgery, ENT, traumatic and orthopaedic surgery, ophthalmology, gynaecology, dermatology and plastic surgery, but these specialties account for over 90 per cent. of the total waiting list.
The number of cases classified as urgent which had been on the waiting list for more than one month in these seven specialties was 1,689 on 30 September 1978, the first date for which the information is available. The corresponding figures for 31 March 1979 and 30 September 1979 were 1,982 and 1,782. The information for 31 March 1980 is not yet available. No corresponding information is collected for a three-month waiting period.