§ Mr. WebbTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will estimate how many people in each health region are currently waiting for an appointment with a consultant following referral by a general practitioner; if he will provide a breakdown of the length of time for which those people(a) have already waited and (b) are expected to wait; and if he will list for each region the waiting time being issued to new entrants to this waiting list for (i) orthopaedic consultants and (ii) consultants in all other major specialties. [60538]
§ Mr. MilburnThe total number of patients waiting for a first appointment with a consultant following referral by a general practitioner is not collected centrally. The available information is shown in the tables.
Table 1: Patients waiting over 13 and 26 weeks for a first outpatient appointment following GP referral, at end June 1998, by region—all specialties Region Number who had been waiting over 13 weeks Of which:those who had been waiting over 26 weeks Northern and Yorkshire 44,640 14,573 Trent 47,533 17,509 Anglia and Oxford 38,829 10,749 North Thames 65,243 16,018 South Thames 36,864 9,015 South and West 48,320 16,912 West Midlands 34,608 7,706 North West 61,660 16,202 England 377,697 108,684
Table 2: Trauma and orthopaedic patients waiting over 13 and 26 weeks for a first outpatient appointment following GP referral, at end June 1998, by region Region Number who had been waiting over 13 weeks Of which: those who had been waiting over 26 weeks Northern and Yorkshire 12,603 5,145 Trent 10,336 3,941 Anglia and Oxford 10,132 3,822 North Thames 10,462 2,541 South Thames 5,929 1,352 South and West 12,500 4,907 West Midlands 7,233 1,695 North West 13,562 4,004 England 82,757 27,407 878W
Table 3: Patients seen at first outpatient appointments within 13 and 26 weeks at the quarter ending June 1998, following referral by a GP, by region—all specialties Region Percentage of patients seen within 13 weeks of GP referral Percentage of patients seen within 26 weeks of GP referral Northern and Yorkshire 83 96 Trent 83 95 Anglia and Oxford 80 95 North Thames 80 96 South Thames 84 97 South and West 83 96 West Midlands 83 96 North West 81 96 England 82 96
Table 4: Patients seen at first outpatient appointment within 13 and 26 weeks by trauma and orthopaedic consultants in the quarter ending June 1998, by region Region Percentage of patients seen within 13 weeks of GP referral Percentage of patients seen within 26 weeks of GP referral Northern and Yorkshire 61 86 Trent 64 87 Anglia and Oxford 63 86 North Thames 62 92 South Thames 75 94 South and West 64 86 West Midlands 73 91 North West 66 91 England 66 89