§ Dr. FoxTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what changes have been made to the(a) designations of trolleys and (b) methods of counting trolley waits since May 1997. [15321]
§ Ms BlearsThe Department collects information on all waits for emergency admission to a bed via accident and emergency department (A&E) following a decision to admit. This information is collected as part of "Your Guide to the NHS" (formerly "Patients Charter"). It has been collected since 1997 and is published quarterly.
The Department does not collect information on whether patients, recorded as waiting for admission, are on trolleys.
Since August 2001, data on total time in A&E from arrival to admission, transfer or discharge have been collected by the Department. This is in line with the NHS Plan which states that by 2004, the maximum wait in A&E from arrival to admission, transfer or discharge will be four hours.