§ Lord Jacobsasked Her Majesty's Government:
- (a) how many people are waiting for hip replacements;
- (b) what is the annual demand for this operation;
- (c) and, if these figures are not at present available, why they are not; and when they will be. [HL5346]
§ Lord Hunt of Kings HeathThe number of patients waiting for elective admission to hospital for hip replacement is not collected centrally. Our aim is to balance data requirements with the burden that they place on the National Health Service, and there are no plans to start collecting this information.
Data on patients waiting for elective admission is collected on the consultant's main specialty function. Usually patients waiting for hip replacement are listed under the trauma and orthopaedic specialty. At 31 March 2002, 260,000 patients were waiting for elective admission to hospital in the trauma and orthopaedic specialty.
During the financial year 2000–01, 70,000 hip replacements were performed.