HC Deb 02 December 1981 vol 14 c154W
Mr. Heddle

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether his Department employs any criteria to distinguish between urgent and non-urgent cases requiring orthopaedic surgery or issues related advice to health authorities.

Dr. Vaughan

No. It is the normal practice for separate waiting lists to be kept for urgent and non-urgent cases, but the category into which any particular case falls is a matter for clinical judgment.