§ Mr. LuffTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how many patients waiting for NHS heart surgery in the west Midlands he estimates have(a) had their operations performed privately or (b) died while waiting for that surgery in the last 12 months. [8984]
§ Mr. HuttonThe Department does not collect data about the number of operations performed in the private sector.
Waiting list mortality data are not collected, nor are data collected on other possible reasons why a patient may be removed from the waiting list prior to treatment, including a change in the patient's place of residence or a move to the private sector.
We are committed to improving waiting times for cardiac surgery, and in the west midlands initiatives include a new £13 million purpose built cardiac surgery critical care unit which recently opened at the University Hospitals Birmingham national health service trust.
We are also developing a new purpose built cardiac surgery centre at the Royal Wolverhampton Hospitals NHS trust which is due to open in 2003, and is the first new specialist cardiac centre to be built in the west Midlands for 30 years.