§ Mr. ChopeTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what action he is taking to reduce the costs of NHS cataract services to a level equivalent to that being achieved by Netcare. [149028]
§ Mr. Hutton[holding answer 19 January 2004]We are developing a nationally set tariff for most national health services activity, including cataract activity, based on NHS average prices. All NHS trusts will be expected to achieve tariff by 2008
Through the treatment centre programme and the introduction of a single agreed care pathway for cataract we are aiming to maximise productivity, improve clinical outcomes and reduce variation in cost and quality
§ Mr. JenkinsTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how many patients are waiting for cataract operations; [149473]
(2) how many patients joined the waiting list for cataract operations in each of the last five years [149475]
§ Mr. HuttonCentral waiting list returns are collected by specialty, for example, ophthalmology. Information on the number of patients waiting for cataract operations specifically is therefore not available, as cataract operations are a procedure within ophthalmology.
§ Mr. JenkinsTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how many cataract operations were carried out in each of the last five years. [149474]
§ Mr. HuttonPublished information on the number of hospital admissions for cataract operations is available up to 2002–03. The number of operations in each of the last five years for which information is available is shown in the table
Number of finished episodes 2002–03 270,605 2001–02 247,847 2000–01 237,507 1999–2000 201,020 1998–99 201,682 This information is available on the Department's web-site under hospital episode statistics.