§ Mr. MorganTo ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will set up a system for the collection of data on(a) cancellations and (b) double cancellations of hospital operations; and if he will make a statement. [24718]
§ Mr. RedwoodAs part of monitoring the patient's charter, information on cancelled operations is reported regularly to the Welsh Office. Between 1 April and 31 December 1994, 18 patients were admitted to a Welsh hospital more than one month after the second cancellation of a non-urgent operation.
From January 1995 the information collected on cancellations was altered to reflect the tightening of the related charter standard to focus on the number of patients who experience a delay of more than a month after the cancellation of just one non-urgent operation. During the three months to 31 March 1995, Welsh hospitals reported that 27 patients had experienced such a delay during the same quarter hospitals in Wales treated 189,059 as in-patients and day cases.
§ Mr. MorganTo ask the Secretary of State for Wales what rights under the patient's charter patients whose operations have been cancelled twice, due to shortage of intensive care beds, after they have been prepared for surgery have.
§ Mr. RedwoodThe latest edition of the Patient's Charter for Wales, which was published in October 1994, makes it clear that patients should receive priority treatment within a month if they have had to face the cancellation of a non-urgent operation. Hospital performance against the new standard is monitored quarterly by my Department.