§ Mr. Dobsonasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will make a statement on the process by which his Department decides on the adequacy of resources for the National Health Service in absence of figures such as the number of patients awaiting cardiac bypass treatment or the number waiting for hip joint replacements.
§ Mr. WhitneyThe Government reach their view about the level of resources required for the National Health Service taking into account on the one hand what is affordable within their overall public expenditure objectives and the ability of the service to improve the efficiency with which it uses resources, and on the other hand the broad pressures which the service faces from demographic change and medical advance and to make improvements in priority areas. Within the total resources available, the expectation is that health authorities will meet all pay and price increases and demographic change and that they will improve services, including areas such as heart surgery and hip joint replacements. What is actually achieved will depend on the actual levels of pay and price increases, and on decisions of health authorities locally on specific service developments.