§ Mr. Gareth Wardellasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what information he has as to which Governments have established a central databank of 511W toxicological information at national level, as recommended in section 513 of the report of a World Health Organisation ad hoc technical group, "The Influence of Alcohol and Drugs on Driving".
§ Mrs. ChalkerI have been asked to reply.
To our knowledge no Government have established a national data bank of toxicological information specifically for road safety purposes.
However, a number of countries, including the United Kingdom, do publish lists of substances to be avoided if driving. These are compiled on an ad hoc basis using, where appropriate, the limited amounts of information available from direct researches, but relying for the most part on reported general side effects, such as drowsiness, which could possibly interfere with driving.
In the United Kingdom, this information is included in the booklet "Medical Aspects of Fitness to Drive" published by the Medical Commission on Accident Prevention.
Table 1 Waiting times by region All specialties except maternity, 1979 Percentage Admissions within stated time as percentage of all admissions from waiting lists Region or other grouping Under 28 days Under 92 days Under 183 days Under 274 days Under 366 days Northern 27.8 54.7 72.2 80.5 84.7 Yorkshire 28.2 57.1 76.9 86.9 92.6 Trent 11.3 56.9 74.7 84.8 90.3 East Anglia 31.6 59.9 78.4 87.3 92.1 NW Thames 39.9 67.4 85.7 92.1 95.4 NE Thames 36.1 63.5 79.0 86.8 91.3 SE Thames 37.5 67.5 82.8 89.8 93.7 SW Thames 34.3 66.4 83.4 90.9 95.1 Wessex 28.7 59.2 78.2 87.2 92.6 Oxford 28.5 56.9 73.8 81.3 85.3 South Western 32.5 59.8 76.6 85.4 90.3 West Midlands 29.8 57.9 75.8 84.9 90.2 Mersey 38.0 64.3 79.4 88.2 93.3 North Western 33.6 62.2 79.4 88.2 92.8 Board of Governors hospitals 31.0 71.3 87.1 92.2 96.1 WALES 37.3 66.4 82.4 89.8 93.6 ENGLAND AND WALES 33.0 61.5 78.7 87.1 91.7
Table 2 Waiting times by speciality England and Wales, 1979 Percentage Admissions within stated time as percentage of all admissions from waiting lists Speciality Under 29 days Under 92 days Under 183 days Under 273 days Under 366 days General Medicine 65.8 84.9 91.7 92.9 93.5 Paediatrics 46.8 67.8 79.4 86.0 87.6 Infectious Diseases 62.5 87.5 87.5 87.5 100.0 Diseases of the Chest 71.6 87.1 88.8 90.5 90.5 Dermatology 63.3 89.8 94.2 95.5 96.9 Neurology 57.5 86.5 92.8 94.1 94.3 Cardiology 35.0 72.2 86.2 94.7 95.4 Rehabilitation 67.4 84.3 91.7 92.8 94.2 Genito-urinary medicine 50.0 66.7 66.7 83.3 83.3 Rheumatology 50.3 78.6 91.0 94.8 96.2 Geriatric medicine 79.3 91.7 95.2 95.4 95.8 Units for Younger Disabled 50.0 91.7 100.0 100.0 100.0 General Surgery 38.3 67.0 82.5 89.4 92.9 Ear, Nose and Throat 18.1 46.2 68.0 80.3 87.9 Traumatic and Orthopaedic 21.3 48.9 68.9 79.4 86.0 Ophthalmology 20.8 49.9 71.5 83.2 89.7 Radiotherapy 87.4 98.7 99.0 99.0 99.2