HC Deb 14 February 2003 vol 400 cc42-3W
Mr. Mark Simmonds

To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many(a) inpatients and (b) outpatient operations were cancelled in (i) Pilgrim hospital, Boston, Lincolnshire, (ii) Trent Regional Health Authority and (iii) England and Wales in 2002, expressed in a percentage of total operations and in numbers. [96582]

Mr. Lammy

[holding answer 11 February 2003]: Quarterly data are collected on the number of operations cancelled by the hospital for non-clinical reasons, for example, at the last minute (that is, on the day patients are due to arrive or after arrival in hospital or on the day of their operation) and on the day of surgery.

These data are available in the Library and on the Department's website at www.doh.gov.uk/ hospitalactivity/data_requests.htm.

Information about cancellations in Pilgrim Hospital, Trent Regional Health Authority and England are shown in the table. Currently, figures are available for the first nine months of 2002 only.

Data are not collected on the number of patients whose outpatient appointment has been cancelled by the hospital.