§ Mr. Frank Fieldasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what was the number of people awaiting 416W admission to surgical specialties by medical category at Wirral health authority hospitals at the latest available date; and how these totals compare with the position for each year since 1979.
§ Mr. John PattenThe available information is given in the table.
Wirral district health authority (formerly Wirral area health authority) Number of persons on in-patient waiting lists on 30 September Surgical speciality 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 General surgery 714 585 558 974 900 Ear, nose and throat 1,219 1,097 1,107 1,251 1,048 Orthopaedics 911 902 663 856 617 Ophthalmology 231 127 111 449 219 Radiotherapy 163 111 162 201 170 Plastic surgery 167 — — — — Oral surgery 42 34 52 114 129 Gynaecology 898 799 499 817 475 Total 4,345 3,655 3,218 4,622 3,558