§ Mr. SteinbergTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) if she will make a statement on the implementation of the patients charter waiting time guarantee in the City of Durham;
(2) how many people are currently waiting for a hospital bed in the City of Durham.
§ Dr. MawhinneyWaiting time information is collected centrally by health authority rather than metropolitan area. The North Durham health authority has been extremely successful in meeting the waiting time commitments in the patients charter. None of its patients have to wait more than two years for any in-patient or day case treatment or 18 months for hip or knee replacement or a cataract operation. Latest figures for 30 September 1992 show that 89 per cent. of North Durham patients had been waiting for less than a year.