§ Mr. Alfred Morrisasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is the minimum, maximum and average length of waiting time for a hip replacement operation in each regional health authority; and how many people on these waiting lists died before their operation in each of the last three years.
§ Mr. John PattenInformation on minimum and maximum waiting times for inpatient treatment is not available from the sample date held centrally. The estimated median interval between the date a patient was placed on the waiting list and the date of admission to an NHS hospital in each of the 14 regional health authorities for the latest three years for which information is available centrally is given in the table. Information on deaths occurring to people while they are on a hospital waiting list is not available centrally.
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Estimated median waiting time (in weeks) for operations for total hip replacement and other arthroplasty of hip in NHS hospitals Regional health authority 1980 1981 1982 Northern 17 21 24 Yorkshire 26 17 19 Trent 40 34 30
Regional health authority 1980 1981 1982 East Anglian 37 39 29 North West Thames† 20 14 14 North East Thames† 16 17 21 South East Thames† 25 30 23 South West Thames† 18 16 20 Wessex 38 33 *31 Oxford 20 23 19 South Western 36 29 31 West Midlands 34 21 19 Mersey 16 20 12 North Western 25 18 30 Special Health Authorities (SHA) and Boards of Governors (BG)† 19 16 †na — — — England 25 22 23 * Estimate relate to first six months of 1982 only. † 1982 figures for the four Thames regions and SHAs/BGs are not strictly comparable with earlier figures because of NHS re-organisation. In particular, the Royal National orthopaedic hospital, formerly managed by a board of governors, came under the administration of North East Thames Regional health authority in April 1982. The central sample information relating to BGs/SHAs is now too small for reliable estimates to be made of such operations in 1982.