§ Mr. MorganTo ask the Secretary of State for Wales, pursuant to his answer of 19 April,Official Report, column 460, what information he has received from the Rhydlafar treatment centre in relation to the numbers of hip and knee replacement operations carried out via the treatment centre procedure during 1993–94; what assessment he has made of the comparison of the numbers of hip and knee joints funded for that year and the numbers carried out; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. RedwoodThe orthopaedic treatment centre, Rhydlafar, carried out 240 hip-knee replacements in 683W 1993–94—seven less than funded. Those scheduled operations were postponed in late March 1994 for medical reasons, following pre-treatment assessment of the patients at the centre, and are being re-scheduled for the earliest possible opportunity.
§ Mr. MorganTo ask the Secretary of State for Wales, pursuant to his answer of 19 April,Official Report, column 460, of which purchasing health authorities are to be allocated the 291 hip-knee replacement operations at the Rhydlafar centre; if he will specify knee operations and hip
Authority Hips Knees 1992–931 1993–942 1994–953 1992–931 1993–942 1994–953 Clwyd 3 8 12 3 3 10 East Dyfed 0 3 5 0 1 5 Gwent 53 36 29 26 38 35 Gwynedd 1 0 8 0 0 3 Mid Glamorgan 37 30 33 10 16 20 Pembrokeshire 15 19 33 3 9 15 Powys 5 4 11 4 5 7 South Glamorgan 29 30 22 12 12 14 West Glamorgan 21 26 21 5 7 8 TOTAL 164 156 174 63 91 117 1 Completed operations. 2 Includes 5 hip and 2 knee operations deferred to 1994–95. 3 Allocation. GP fundholders have to bid to their district health authority for a share of treatment centre places which are included in the authorities' contracts with the centres. Subject to that, GP fundholders may refer patients direct to the centres and there is no charge to their budgets.
§ Mr. MorganTo ask the Secretary of State for Wales what consultations he has had with the chairman of the South Glamorgan health authority concerning the discontinuation of the use of the Zimmer CPT artificial hip joint in the hip replacement part of the treatment centre funding allocation; and what allowance he has made in the allocation of £178,000 for joint revision surgery within the Cardiff Royal group for the excess numbers of replacements required for defective, or defectively fitted Zimmer CPT hip joints.
§ Mr. RedwoodNone. The use of particular items of equipment within the orthopaedic treatment centre, including the joint revision programme, is a matter for South Glamorgan health authority which is required to obtain prostheses from sources on the Department of Health register of approved manufacturers.