§ Mr. SteinbergTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the number of national health service patients in 1990 who have had operations for (i) hysterectomies and (ii) prostate gland removals; and what is his estimate of the number of patients on the waiting list for these operations and the average time spent on the waiting list.
§ Mrs. Virginia BottomleyThe latest figures available centrally show that in the year ending March 1989 there 153W were an estimated 65,000 completed episodes of hospital care for patients having an hysterectomy and 46,700 episodes for prostate gland removal. The estimated mean waiting time before admission for these operations was 14.1 weeks and 15.9 weeks respectively. Information about patients currently on waiting lists is collected by the specialty of intended treatment, not by individual diagnosis or condition.