§ Mr. Parryasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what has been the trend in lengths of waiting lists at the Liverpool women's hospital since May 1979.
§ Mr. John PattenThe available information is given in the table. No information is held centrally on numbers awaiting outpatient appointments. In general, figures on waiting lists are believed to include a significant proportion of duplicated entries and patients who no longer require treatment. The amount of overstatement cannot readily be estimated, but is thought to exceed 10 per cent. nationally and could be considerably more. About half of all admissions to hospital are immediate, and many of those on waiting lists already have a planned date of admission.
Number of persons on inpatient waiting list at 31 December Women's Hospital, Liverpool 1979* 887 1980 726 1981 520 1982* 651 1983 563 * In general, figures for these years were affected by industrial action in the Health Service.