HC Deb 24 July 1991 vol 195 cc674-5W
Ms. Gordon

To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will give the in-patient waiting lists for Tower Hamlets health authority for each year since 1979 together with the percentage of those waiting for longer than 12 months.

Mrs. Virginia Bottomley

Provisional figures for March 1991 indicate that the number of people waiting for in-patient treatment in Tower Hamlets fell by 12 per cent. in the previous six months and by 22 per cent. since March 1979; the number waiting over a year fell by 43 per cent. and 29 per cent. respectively. Between March 1979 and September 1990, the number of in-patients treated in Tower Hamlets increased by about 14 per cent.

Tower Hamlets district health authority Waiting list showing percentage waiting over 12 months
Total inpatient waiting list1 Percentage of patients waiting over 12 months
March 1979 5,930 29.8
September 1979 5,641 31.4
September 1980 5,579 42.1
September 1981 5,226 38.5
September 1982 6,003 32.9
September 1983 5,880 35.5
September 1984 5,771 34.1
September 1985 6,324 36.7
September 1986 7,021 43.4
September 1987 5,764 43.0
September 1988 5,272 42.0
September 1989 5,400 43.0
September 1990 5,251 43.0
March 1991 4,631 228.0

Source: SM12, SBH203, KHO6, KH07, KHO7A returns, except for March 1991.

1 Excludes self-deferred cases—those patients who have refused an offer of admission.

2 Provisional figures.