HC Deb 08 July 1987 vol 119 cc182-5W
Mr. Dewar

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will publish a table showing the total number of people on National Health Service waiting lists in each specialty and in each health board in Scotland for each year since 1979.

Mr. Rifkind

I refer the hon. Member to section 6 of the 1979–85 editions of "Scottish Health Statistics", copies of which are available in the Library. Estimated data for Shetland health board for the years 1979 to 1983 (which were not included in the published tables) are shown in table I. Information relating to 1986 is shown in table II. The increases in 1982 and 1983 reflect the effect of industrial action. Lists tend to overstate the numbers of patients waiting for treatment since they include duplicated entries and patients who no longer need treatment.

Table I
Shetland Health Board
All Specialties General Surgery Geriatric Long Stay
1979 277 230 47
1980 207 172 35

TABLE II
Waiting List: by specially and Health board at 30 September 1986 (Provisional)
Number
Specialty Scotland Argyll and Clyde Ayrshire and Arran Borders Dumfries and Galloway Fife Forth Valley Grampian Greater Glasgow Highland Lanarkshire Lothian Orkney Shetland Tayside Western Isles
All Specialties 80,732 6,527 4,862 325 3,205 5,468 2,558 9,969 17,866 3,040 6,249 14,189 50 142 6,214 68
Acute Specialties 71,848 6,490 4,643 295 3,189 5,122 2,299 9,232 14,588 2,790 5,736 11,647 101 5,648 68
General surgery 20,351 3,358 831 95 1,612 1,778 824 1,133 2,869 605 2,906 2,425 101 1,801 9
Orthopaed surgery 13,120 811 1,563 178 258 941 697 1,249 2,248 728 853 2,137 1,437
E.N.T. surgery 14,786 1,004 948 497 1,392 145 2,943 2,445 495 856 2,734 1,327 10
Ophthalmolgy 5,102 651 160 50 173 100 965 1,166 207 65 1,311 254
Urology 5,740 382 307 169 550 2,817 514 757 244
Orthodontics
Oral surgery 1,926 152 192 264 325 126 93 595 178 1
Rest Dent
General Medical 1,273 40 8 9 11 13 11 307 587 44 164 77 2
Dermatology 125 5 3 25 61 18 4 9
Rehabilitat Med 12 12
Convalescence
Respiratory Med 1 1
Paediatric Surgery 1,303 48 22 184 674 277 98
Paediatric Med 311 14 12 22 53 197 12 1
Gynaecology 7,751 621 582 13 569 458 331 1,574 1.343 375 446 1,207 204 24
G. P. Acute 13 4 1 3 5
Acute Mixed 22 22
Other 12 12
Sup-Area Specs 5,554 271 2,588 189 74 1,973 459
Neurosurgery 222 44 56 64 58
Cardiothor Surg 568 22 400 74 72
Plastic Surg 4,497 167 1,965 173 1,803 389
Neurology 160 16 101 34 9
Radiothcraphy 107 22 66 16 3
Spinal Paral
Obstet Specs
Special Obstets
G.P. Obstetrics
L-Stay Specs 1,555 37 78 30 16 111 57 233 163 59 189 403 50 41 88
Geriatric Asses 981 23 5 16 102 57 233 163 4 189 148 41
Geriatric L.S 527 14 78 25 17 255 50 41 47
Young Chro Sick. 47 9 38
Psyc. Specs 1,698 141 230 154 233 527 250 144 19
Mental Illness 733 6 154 1 218 250 104
Psyche-geriatric 931 141 211 228 309 23 19
Child Psyc 33 12 4 17
Adolescent Psyc 1 1
Mental Handicap 77 5 48 2 22
Special Cats.
Communic Dis
S.C.B.U.
I.T.U.
A and E
Clinic Genetics

Source: Information Services Division.

Form ISD(5)1

Mr. Dewar

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will publish a table showing (a) the total average waiting time for National Health Service in-patient treatment in each specialty in Scotland in each year since 1979 and (b) the average waiting time for all specialties in Scotland in each year since 1979.

Year of Discharge
Specialty 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985
General Surgery 74 69 65 56 88 73 66
Orthopaedic Surgery 118 111 120 114 146 129 123
ENT Surgery 112 113 108 102 138 131 118

All Specialties General Surgery Geriatric Long Stay
1981 204 169 35
1982 186 154 32
1983 125 104 21

Mr. Rifkind

The mean waiting times (in days) for all in-patient treatment up to 1985 (the latest year for which statistics are available) were as follows:

Year of Discharge
Specialty 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985
Ophthalmology 97 94 90 96 129 111 97
Urology 89 69 67 63 79 70 67
Oral Surgery and Oral Medicine 74 62 58 72 107 110 78
General Medicine 22 19 21 21 20 19 19
Dermatology 26 20 21 27 35 28 23
Rehabilitation Medicine 13 16 9 10 10 10 9
Respiratory Medicine 7 5 8 7 6 7 7
Paediatric Surgery 101 87 80 90 135 108 96
Paediatric Medicine 48 37 38 42 49 36 30
Gynaecology 68 56 50 47 76 54 47
GP 93 73 69 82 79 71 59
Neurosurgery 54 51 38 49 54 35 37
Cardiothoracic Surgery 77 69 63 54 44 52 33
Plastic Surgery 182 177 165 133 177 130 139
Neurology 32 25 28 33 31 29 24
Radiotherapy 21 21 19 18 18 17 14
Geriatric Assessment 28 25 26 24 24 20 20
Geriatric Long Stay 44 39 38 40 40 40 32
Young Chronic Sick 36 44 46 45 86 45 169
All Specialties 80 73 71 65 95 80 72