§ Mr. Thurnhamasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is the current average waiting time for ophthalmic surgery in (a) the Bolton area and (b) in the regional health authority areas in the United Kingdom, listed by area.
§ Mr. WhitneyI am sorry I cannot give my hon. Friend all the information he seeks. Some of it is not available centrally and statistics for the rest of the United Kingdom are a matter for my right hon. Friends the Secretaries of State for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The estimated median interval between the date a patient was placed on the waiting list and the date of admission to departments of ophthalmology in National Health Service hospitals in England is given in the table for the latest year for which information is available centrally. My hon. Friend may wish to write to the chairman of Bolton district health authority who may be able to provide information in respect of Bolton.550W
NHS hospitals, ophthalmology inpatient departments Regional Health Authority Estimated median waiting time (in weeks) of waiting list cases in 1983 Northern 12 Yorkshire 12 Trent 12 East Anglian 11 North-West Thames 9 North-East Thames 9 South-East Thames 11 South-West Thames 10 Wessex 13 Oxford 9 South-Western 15 West Midlands 18 Mersey 9 North-Western 10 Special Health Authorities 9 England 11