§ Mr. SteenTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what resources will be made available to the South West health authority to expedite hip replacement operations for those patients aged over 75 years.
§ Mr. DorrellThe provision of treatment services in the south west using these and other resources is a matter for the regional health authority.
The initial revenue allocation to the South Western regional health authority for 1990–91 is £919,011,000, 9 per cent. more than the initial allocation for 1989–90.
§ Mr. SteenTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) if he will list in theOfficial Report the health authorities which have waiting lists of under 12 months for hip replacement operations;
(2) if he will list the average waiting time in the South West district health authorities for patients needing hip replacement surgery; and what steps are being taken to reduce this delay.
37W
§ Mrs. Virginia BottomleyInformation on waiting lists is collected centrally by specialty but not for specific operations or procedures. The six-monthly publication of hospital waiting list statistics, which is placed in the Library, provides information about waiting time for admission for each specialty.
The latest information held centrally about the time waited, by operation, relates to patients admitted in 1985 and is published in "1985 Hospital In-patients Enquiry main tables for England series number 27", a copy of which is also available in the Library. Information on the time waited for specific types of operation in 1988–89 is expected to be available shortly.
We are committed to reducing excessive waiting and have invested a total of £119 million over four years from the waiting list fund for this purpose. In 1989–90 £8.7 million was allocated to the specialty of trauma and orthopaedics of which at least £441,000 was specifically used for hip operations.