§ Mr. Corbettasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) what was the number of people awaiting admission for thoracic surgery, orthopaedics and radiotherapy in each of the health authority areas, by name, in the area of the West Midlands regional health authority at the latest convenient date; and how this compares with the position one, two and three years earlier;
(2) what was the number of people awaiting admission to the surgical specialties by medical category at hospitals in the north Birmingham health authority at the latest available date; and how this compares with the position one, two and three years earlier.
§ Mr. John PattenI shall let the hon. Member have replies as soon as possible.
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§ Mr. Knoxasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is the latest estimate of the total number of people on waiting lists for treatment in National Health Service hospitals in England; and whether he will make a statement on trends in hospital waiting lists.
§ Mr. FowlerI am glad to be able to report that the downward trend in waiting lists has been resumed following the industrial action in the NHS in 1982. The latest figures—a provisional total of 704,500 at the end of September 1983—show a reduction of over 20,000 from the March 1983 levels. This is confirmation that during 1983 the Health Service has been getting back to its real business of treating more patients after the disruption caused by the industrial action which added over 100,000 people to waiting lists.
This is the second time that the health service has had to make such a recovery since this Government came to office. Industrial action in the winter of 1979 increased waiting lists by about 125,000 to their highest ever level —750,000. The figures were reduced steadily thereafter to just over 600,000 in early 1982. The reduction in waiting lists is evidence of hard work by NHS staff and shows the emptiness of suggestions that the Government are cutting back on the Health Service.