HC Deb 12 March 2002 vol 381 cc1000-1W
Mr. Burns

To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many, and what proportion of letters received by the Department from hon. and Right hon. Members between 20 June and 20 July were replied to in (a) under 15, (b) under 20, (c) under 30, (d) under 40 and (e) over 40 working days. [22002]

Ms Blears

[holding answer 10 December 2001]: I apologise to the hon. Member for the delay in responding to this question. I refer him to the reply that my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State gave my hon. Friend the Member for Blackpool, North and Fleetwood (Mrs. Humble) on 5 March 2002, Official Report, column 192W.

The information is shown in the table.

Ministerial replies—20 June to 20 July
Replies sent within Number of replies Percentage
15 days 527 34
20 days 436 28
30 days 202 13
40 days 186 12
Over 40 days 202 13
Total 11,553 100
1 In addition 199 letters were transferred to other Government Departments

Virginia Bottomley

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the handling of the case of Mrs. Violet Christine Mitchell by the Royal Surrey County Hospital in September; and when he will reply to correspondence from(a) Jane Cole of 13 and 28 September and 15 November and (b) the right hon. Member for South West Surrey. [18888]

Ms Blears

I apologise to the hon. Member for the delay in responding to this question. I refer her to the reply that my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State gave my hon. Friend the Member for Blackpool, North and Fleetwood (Mrs. Humble) on 5 March 2002,Official Report, column 192W.

I appreciate the considerable distress Mrs. Mitchell has suffered but I am assured that there was no negligence involved in the delay in diagnosing her injury. The nature of the injury could not be fully ascertained at the first examination and all necessary steps were subsequently taken to reach the correct diagnosis.

My officials wrote to Ms Cole on 29 November in response to her letters dated 28 October and 15 November. My Department has no record of receiving any letters sent in September.

My right hon. Friend, the Minister of State replied to the right hon. Member's letter on 4 December 2001.

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