HC Deb 13 December 2001 vol 376 cc981-2W
Mr. Laws

To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many(a) in-patients and (b) out-patients have been treated by the NHS for each six month reporting period since 1990; and if he will make a statement. [18883]

Mr. Hutton

[holding answer 5 December 2001]: The number of admissions to national health service trusts since 1990–91 is given in the table. This does not represent the number of patients as a person may be admitted on more than one occasion.

Admissions to NHS hospitals 1990–91 to 2000–01
Year April to September October to March Total
1990–91 4,245,512 3,942,575 8,188,087
1991–92 4,364,105 4,360,223 8,724,328
1992–93 4,570,565 4,508,298 9,078,863
1993–94 4,730,660 4,761,992 9,492,652
1994–95 4,909,917 4,947,403 9,857,320
1995–96 5,102,088 5,144,912 10,247,000
1996–97 5,152,980 5,037,709 10,190,689
1997–98 5,363,519 5,174,016 10,537,535
1998–99 5,248,399 5,460,573 10,708,972
1999–2000 5,521,349 5,504,595 11,025,944
2000–01 5,540,970 5,460,125 11,001,095

The following table shows the number of people seen as out-patients—and the total attendance in out-patient—sas some people will attend more than once—since 1990–91. It is not possible to provide a six monthly breakdown as data on all out-patient episodes are only collected annually.

Out-patient attendance at NHS hospitals 1990–91 to 2000–01
Year Number of out-patients Number of out-patient episodes
1990–91 8,501,760 36,111,504
1991–92 8,941,526 36,893,710
1992–93 9,342,280 37,527,038
1993–94 9,680,593 38,202,391
1994–95 10,362,877 39,305,800
1995–96 10,989,334 40,117,691
1996–97 11,294069 40,872,769
1997–98 11,529,432 41,635,269
1998–99 11,777,780 42,154,397
1999–2000 12,136,405 43,040,699
2000–01 12,466,233 43,569,340

These figures show a significant increase in the number of admissions to hospitals and the number of people seen as out-patients since 1990–91.

The NHS Plan commitment is that by 2005 the maximum waiting time for in-patient treatment will be cut from 18 months now to six months, the maximum waiting time for a routine out-patient appointment will be halved from over six months now to three months and traditional waiting lists will be replaced with booking systems. By the end of 2008 we aim to treat all out-patients and in-patients within three months, subject to recruitment and reform.