§ Mr. AshleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many hospitals specialise in children's paediatric heart surgery; in which regions they are located; by what percentage their revenue allocation has increased since 1984; and what is the current urgent in-patient waiting list for each one.
§ Mrs. CurrieAll regional health authorities have cardiothoracic units which undertake cardiac surgery on children. Cardiac surgery on neonates and infants is funded as a supraregional service. The nine designated supraregional centres are located in the following regions: Northern, Yorkshire, South East Thames, Wessex, South Western, West Midlands and Mersey and at the Brompton hospital and the hospital for sick children, Great Ormond Street, which are administered by special health authorities. We are aware that some cardiac surgery on neonates and infants is carried out in non-designated centres but comprehensive information on these is not held centrally.
The total revenue allocation for the designated centres has risen from £7,121,000 in 1985–86 to £8,933,000 for 1988–89, an increase of approximately 25 per cent. The allocation of funds to surgery on children over the age of one year is a matter for the health authorities.
I regret that the information requested on waiting lists is not held centrally. Waiting list statistics are collected centrally by consultant department, not by age of patient or intended method of treatment.