§ Mr. BaronTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what proportion of migraine sufferers being treated in the NHS fall within the target of a maximum 16-week wait between referral and first out-patient appointment; [139876]
(2) what proportion of migraine sufferers treated in the NHS were (a) misdiagnosed and (b) inappropriately treated in 2002. [139877]
§ Dr. LadymanThe information requested is not collected centrally.
We are taking steps to improve services for patients with headache. In April 2003, for example, we published guidelines for the appointment of general practitioners (GPs) with special interests in the delivery of clinical services in headache. This should help to raise the profile of headache and migraine with health professionals.
The Modernisation Agency will be managing a project over the next two years to improve access to neurology services. The project will work closely with professionals, patients and other stakeholders, and will complement other initiatives already under way within the Modernisation Agency, the Department of Health and the national health service.
Since 1 April 2003, the NHS aims to see all patients within 21 weeks of a GP referral and, once on an inpatient waiting list, patients should be admitted within 12 months. From 1 April 2004, waiting times will further reduce to a maximum waiting time for a first outpatient appointment of 16 weeks. The maximum waiting time for an inpatient appointment will be cut from 12 months to nine months.
These maximum waiting times will fall on a staged basis each year to three months (for outpatients) and six months (for inpatients) by 2005. The Government aims to reduce the maximum wait for any stage of treatment to three months by 2008 (subject to recruitment and reform).