§ Mrs. Curtis-ThomasTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people were waiting for treatment in(a) 1996–97 and (b) March 2001; and what the percentage change was. [158519]
§ Mr. DenhamOn 31 March 1997 the total number of patients awaiting admission to hospital in England was 1,158,004. This is the waiting list we inherited. At the end of February 2001, the latest month for which information is presently available, there were 1,032,755 patients awaiting admission to hospital. This is a reduction of 10.8 per cent. and is over 25,000 more than our election promise to reduce waiting lists by 100,000.