§ Mr. Peter Robinsonasked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will give full details for each hospital concerned regarding the number of patients on each hospital waiting list:
Health and Social Services Area Board Hospital Number on waiting list Eastern … … Downe … … … 465 Northern Ireland Radiotherapy Centre … … … 46 Ulster … … … 2,768 Lagan Valley … … … 441 Ards … … … 990 Bangor … … … 409 Claremont Street … … … 17 Mater … … … 477 Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children … … … 669 Royal Victoria … … … 3,932 Belfast City … … … 1,618 Musgrave Park … … … 4,386 Samaritan … … … 164 TOTAL … … … 16,382 Northern … … Coleraine … … … 107 Route … … … 140 Moyle … … … 268 Whiteabbey … … … 176 Mid-Ulster … … … 142 Waveney … … … 1,534 TOTAL … … … 2,367 Southern … … South Tyrone … … … 388 Craigavon Area … … … 1,768 Banbridge … … … 68 Cowan Heron … … … 4 Daisy Hill … … … 342 TOTAL … … … 2,570 Western … … Altnagelvin … … … 813 St. Columba … … … 41 Roe Valley … … … 149 Tyrone County … … … 1,157 Erne … … … 306 TOTAL … … … 2,466 NORTHERN IRELAND TOTAL … … … 23,785 It is not possible to identify the treatment required by patients on hospitals waiting lists in the Eastern board, but the hospital specialties for which patients were waiting for treatment on 30 September 1979 were as follows:
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Specialty No. on Waiting List General Medicine 25 Paediatrics 25 Radiotherapy 46 Dermatology 13 Neurology 33 Cardiology 280 what treatment was required by the 16,382 patients on the Eastern health board waiting list on 30 September 1979; and what steps are being taken to reduce these figures.
§ Mr. AlisonThe numbers of patients on waiting lists on 30 September 1979, the latest date for which information is available, were as follows:
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Physical Medicine … 2 Rheumatology … 56 General Surgery … 3,263 ENT … 2,670 Trauma amp; Orthopaedic Surgery … 4,699 Ophthalmology … 937 Plastic Surgery … 2,169 Thoracic Surgery … 93 Neuro Surgery … 187 Dentistry … 630 Gynaecology … 1,031 Psychiatry … 2 Other Specialist Units … 221 — Total … 16,382 My Department will be spending some £58 million in the next four years on improving and extending hospital facilities in Northern Ireland. In addition, four new orthopaedic theatres are nearing completion at the Musgrave Park hospital, Belfast, and these will help to reduce the waiting list for orthopaedic surgery. I am confident that this programme of development will have an impact on waiting lists.