§ Mr. Alfred Morrisasked the Secretary of the State for Social Services how many people are on waiting lists for an appointment with an ear, nose and throat consultant; what are the average and longest waiting times to which people on the waiting lists have been subjected; and what is being done to reduce the waiting lists.
§ Mr. John PattenInformation on outpatient waiting lists and waiting times is currently not collected centrally. The health services information steering group has recommended in its first report a new annual district return to be submitted centrally which records, by speciality, the number of patients waiting for an outpatient appointment. The group also recommended further research to identify a measure of outpatient waiting time which is both suitable for national comparative purposes and administratively easy to collect. Health authorities have been asked to plan on the basis that the steering group's first report should be implemented by April 1987.
The key to tackling long waiting lists and other deficiencies in the National Health Service is the more
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§ Mr. Kenneth ClarkeInformation on individual posts in the NHS in England is not available centrally. Comprehensive manpower data are collected at 30 September each year. In addition to this, since December 1982 we have introduced a quarterly count made of non-medical manpower in the NHS. The targets which were settled with each regional health authority were expressed in terms of staff in post at 31 March 1984 compared to the number of staff in post at 31 March 1983. The table gives total manpower in each regional health authority at 30 September for the last three years; it also shows the changes required by each region between 31 March 1983 and 31 March 1984.
effective use of all its resources. The report of the NHS management inquiry has demonstrated the central part to be played in this by the clearer lines of management responsibility which we are now establishing throughout the service.