Waiting Lists (Hansard, 6 November 2000)

§ Dr. Julian Lewis
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what has been the average change in waiting times for in-patient treatment for NHS patients in each year since May 1997. [135012]

§ Mr. Denham
The information requested is shown in the table.

Weeks

As at 31 March Average time (median) waited by those on the list¹

1997 13.2

1998 14.8

1999 12.8

2000 12.9

31 August 20002² 12.9

¹ This is the published notice, which refers to waiting list for elective 2 Latest available figure data used in the monthly statistical press the average time waited by those on the admission at a particular date

² Latest available figure

The National Health Service Plan states that the maximum wait for in-patient treatment will be cut from 18 months now to six months by 2005. Urgent cases will continue to be treated much faster in accordance with clinical need. As a result of delivering this policy, we would expect the average time that patients have been waiting for in-patient treatment to fall from three months to seven weeks by 2005.

§ Mr. Baker
To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people in East Sussex were on(a) an in-patient and (b) an out-patient waiting list on (i) 1 May 1997 and (ii) the latest date for which figures are available. [135326]

§ Mr. Denham
[holding answer 30 October 2000]: The information requested is given in the table.

East Sussex, Brighton and Hove health authority¹

Patients waiting for elective admission Outpatient over 13 week waiters²

31 March 1997³ 20,035 Data not collected

Latest date ⁴18,460 ⁵7,562

¹ HA waiting lists and times data have been collected on a responsible population basis since April 1999. Prior to this, data were collected on the basis of a resident population.

² Information is not collected on the total number of patients waiting for an out-patient appointment. The table gives information on the number of patients not yet seen for first out-patient appointment who had been waiting 13 weeks or over following referral by a GP.

³ The baseline is given as 31 March 1997, as data were not collected at 31 May 1997.

⁴ 31 August 2000

⁵ 30 June 2000

Weeks
As at 31 March	Average time (median) waited by those on the list¹
1997	13.2
1998	14.8
1999	12.8
2000	12.9
31 August 20002²	12.9
¹ This is the published notice, which refers to waiting list for elective 2 Latest available figure data used in the monthly statistical press the average time waited by those on the admission at a particular date
² Latest available figure

East Sussex, Brighton and Hove health authority¹
	Patients waiting for elective admission	Outpatient over 13 week waiters²
31 March 1997³	20,035	Data not collected
Latest date	⁴18,460	⁵7,562
¹ HA waiting lists and times data have been collected on a responsible population basis since April 1999. Prior to this, data were collected on the basis of a resident population.
² Information is not collected on the total number of patients waiting for an out-patient appointment. The table gives information on the number of patients not yet seen for first out-patient appointment who had been waiting 13 weeks or over following referral by a GP.
³ The baseline is given as 31 March 1997, as data were not collected at 31 May 1997.
⁴ 31 August 2000
⁵ 30 June 2000