HC Deb 21 April 2004 vol 420 c553W
Mr. Ben Chapman

To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much public funding has been spent on(a) heart disease and (b) cancer care in Wirral, South in each of the last five years. [166617]

Miss Melanie Johnson

The information requested is not collected centrally. Allocations of funding for particular treatments are matters for the local primary care trust.

Mr. Ben Chapman

To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on NHS waiting times for heart surgery in Wirral, South. [166619]

Miss Melanie Johnson

In March 1997 there were 138 people waiting nine months and 40 people waiting over 12 months for heart surgery at the cardiothoracic center, Liverpool National Health Service Trust. The latest available figures show that in February 2004 there were no people waiting nine months and over for surgery.

Mr. Ben Chapman

To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many residents in Wirral, South aged over 60 years have benefited from the abolition of charges for eye tests; [166620]

(2) how many citizens in Wirral, South had access to free eye tests in 2003–04. [166621]

Miss Melanie Johnson

Data for the number of sight tests by constituency or by the number of senior citizens are not collected centrally.

In 2002–03, the total number of national health service sight tests paid for patients aged 60 and over in Cheshire and Merseyside Strategic Health Authority (SHA) was 201,180. The total number eligible for a free sight test for those aged 60 and over was 507,080. The total number of NHS sight tests paid for by Cheshire and Merseyside SHA in the year 2002–03 was 453,250.

Sight tests cannot be equated to the numbers of patients.