§ Chris GraylingTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the average waiting time for a first consultant appointment in London in each year since 1997. [133741]
§ Mr. HuttonThe average waiting times for first consultant outpatient appointments following general/ dental practitioner written referral in London since 1997 is shown in the table. Progress on reducing maximum waiting times do not necessarily translate into a reduction in the median waiting time, because of shifts in low waiting time bands. Over this period the number of people in London waiting over 26 weeks for their first outpatient appointment fell from 15,100 at end March 1997 to 6 at end March 2003. The equivalent figures for England are over 70,000 to 18 (counting only patients that are the responsibility of NHS Commissioners).
Waiting times for 1st consultant outpatient appointment following G(D)P referral: London Year Median Waiting time (weeks) 1996–97 6.1 1997–98 6.3 1998–99 6.9 1999–2000 7.4 2000–01 7.2 2001–02 7.3 2002–03 7.5 Notes:
1. Data pre 2002/3 is based on London Regional Office boundaries, data for 2002/3 is based on
London strategic health authority boundaries
2. The medians in the table are based on aggregate data, categorised into waiting time bands,
and do not reflect shifts in the waiting time profiles within these bands, only between bands.
Source:
Department of Health form QM08
§ Mr. BurstowTo ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Oxford, West and Abingdon (Dr. Harris) of 14 October 2003,Official Report, column 214W, on consultant numbers, exactly how many consultants were planned in the substantial expansion; and exactly how many more new consultants the NHS Plan target provided. [138194]
§ Mr. HuttonSubject to the necessary resources becoming available, the National Health Service was aiming to provide around 5,000 additional consultants between 1999 and 2004. The NHS Plan put in place the necessary funds and plans to deliver up to 7,500 new consultants between 1999 and 2004.
A range of initiatives has addressed the need for additional growth to achieve this target, including: speeding up specialist registrar to consultant conversion, encouraging the NHS to become a more flexible and diverse employer, increasing investment in training, investing in child care, attracting back returners and running national and international recruitment campaigns.