§ Mr. Kilroy-Silkasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) how many children with congenital heart disorders are awaiting (a) investigatory operations and (b) surgery in each of the health regions;
(2) what is the total number of patients waiting for (a) investigatory operations and (b) open heart surgery in each of the health regions at the latest available date;
(3) what is the current waiting period for (a) men, (b) women and (c) children for (i) investigatory operations and (ii) open heart surgery in each of the 14 health regions.
§ Mr. Patrick JenkinThe information requested is not available centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. The numbers of people (all ages) on the waiting lists for cardiology and for thoracic surgery (which includes cardiac surgery) respectively in each region on 31 March 1979 are given below. The figures distinguish between urgent and non-urgent cases and also show the number of urgent cases on the waiting list for more than one month and the number of non-urgent cases on the list for more than a year.
141W
Urgent Non-urgent Region Speciality All cases Cases on list more than one month All cases Cases on list more than one year Total of all cases Northern Cardiology 57 28 88 15 145 Thoracic Surgery 126 84 164 45 290 Yorkshire Cardiology 35 8 130 3 165 Thoracic Surgery 80 69 243 53 323 Trent Cardiology 12 7 230 14 242 Thoracic Surgery 93 84 349 33 442 East Anglia Cardiology 98 62 12 — 110 Thoracic Surgery 50 4 29 11 79 North West Thames Cardiology 82 67 196 29 278 Thoracic Surgery 83 24 233 38 316 North East Thames Cardiology 70 44 195 39 265 Thoracic Surgery 30 23 56 5 86 South East Thames Cardiology 84 73 376 134 460 Thoracic Surgery 29 19 112 23 141 South West Thames Cardiology 7 1 99 12 106 Thoracic Surgery 13 — — — 13 Wessex Cardiology 58 — 20 — 78 Thoracic Surgery 15 — 72 3 87 Oxford Cardiology — — — — — Thoracic Surgery 27 — 13 — 40 South Western Cardiology — — 34 — 40 Thoracic Surgery 12 3 181 10 193 West Midlands Cardiology 48 13 595 280 643 Thoracic Surgery 367 307 459 167 826 Mersey Cardiology 76 52 646 403 722 Thoracic Surgery 99 79 — — 99 North Western Cardiology 34 21 169 33 203 Thoracic Surgery 79 41 501 135 580 Boards of Governors Cardiology 126 29 363 12 489 Thoracic Surgery 205 139 285 65 488 England Cardiology 787 405 3,153 974 3,940 (TOTAL) Thoracic Surgery 1,308 876 2,695 588 4,003