HC Deb 05 July 1993 vol 228 cc2-3W
Dame Jill Knight

To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many national health service eye examinations have been undertaken since 1985 in each regional health authority and in England.

Dr. Mawhinney

The number of national health service sight tests paid for by family health services authorities in each financial year is shown in the table.

Regional health authority 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–901 1990–911 1991–92 1992–93
North East Thames 894.5 914.4 943.4 1,028.0 1,055.0 468.2 361.4 440.3
South East Thames 734.6 761.8 803.6 875.1 927.8 385.6 296.9 359.9
South West Thames 625.8 648.7 652.9 710.6 735.3 283.0 220.4 267.8
Wessex 619.2 645.9 697.7 739.4 806.3 343.2 258.0 312.0
Oxford 489.6 515.6 546.1 607.9 657.3 221.5 205.7 247.5
South Western 761.6 785.9 826.6 917.2 1,017.5 418.1 324.5 402.9
West Midlands 1,096.6 1,154.8 1,188.8 1,314.2 1,438.4 634.0 488.2 574.0
Mersey 449.8 465.7 473.6 531.6 562.1 259.8 204.9 246.3
North Western 773.8 810.6 837.5 922.0 970.3 435.3 349.7 413.6
England2 9,882.2 10,245.8 10,615.4 11,694.8 12,492.8 5,279.8 4,153.7 4,979.4 35,527.6
1 From 1 April 1989, NHS sight tests were restricted to certain eligible groups in the population. The figures for 1989–90 included 1.63 million sight tests paid for in 1989–90 but conducted in 1988–89 under the previous scheme.
The remaining 3.65 million were conducted and paid for in 1989–90 but do not constitute a full twelve months of the scheme. The figures for 1990–91 which do represent 12 months under the new scheme, are not therefore directly comparable with those for 1989–90.
2 Due to rounding, the sum of the components may not equal the total.
3 Provisional figure. An analysis by regional health authority is not yet available.