§ Mr. PatchettTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what are the latest waiting list figures within the Trent regional health authority for persons(a) waiting more than one month for an urgent operation, (b) waiting more than one year for non-urgent operations and (c) awaiting out-patient consultations.
§ Mrs. Virginia BottomleyFollowing the implementation of the recommendations of the steering group on Health Service information (the Korner committee), starting in April 1987, no distinction is now made between urgent and non-urgent cases since the committee regarded such distinction as unreliable. On 31 March 1989, there were 54,870 patients on surgical specialty waiting lists in the Trent regional health authority of whom 20 per cent. had been waiting more than one year. No information is held centrally on numbers awaiting out-patient appointments.
§ Mr. PatchettTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what is the latest figure for hospital waiting lists in the Trent regional health authority; and what it was for each of the last five years.
§ Mrs. Virginia BottomleyThe information requested is given in the table.
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In-patient waiting lists at 31 March—Trent Regional Health Authority Year Number waiting 1984 67,314 1985 64,055 1986 61,877 1987 57,711 1988 54,894 1989 56,918 Source: 1984–86 form SBH203.
1987–89 forms KH06, KH07, KH07A.
Note: The numbers exclude self-deferred cases.