§ Mr. ChopeTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he is taking to ensure that the waiting list for access to the INPUT pain management clinic at Guys192W and St. Thomas's hospital is reduced; and when he will respond to the letter from Mrs. Jackson of Christchurch dated 5 December 2003 on this subject. [150536]
§ Mr. HuttonOfficials responded to Mrs. Jackson's letter of 5 December 2003 regarding the INPUT pain clinic on the 13 January 2004.
I am assured by Guy's and St. Thomas' Hospitals National Health Service Trust that they have taken steps to reduce waiting times for the INPUT pain clinic:
Extra clinic sessions have been added.All referrals have to be validated by the consultant.The non-general practitioner referral waiting list is currently being validated to ensure that patients still wish to attend for assessment.Improvements in the administration system mean it now provides better information about clinic slot availability and facilitates the offer of vacant slots to non-GP referral patients.Staff are now able to compile reports in order to manage clinics more effectively.A review of the systems for sending out-patient appointments has taken place and a reminder system will be introduced to minimise the number of appointment slots, which might otherwise be wasted if patients did not attend.To increase psychologist out-patient capacity, the weekly timetable for all psychologists is currently being reviewed, in order to identify how their workloads can be altered to allow more outpatient assessment time.The trust also plans to employ a service improvement facilitator to help improve the service provided by the clinic.