§ Mr. LawsTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) if he will list each NHS trust which maintains planned lists on which people wait for operations but which are excluded from the inpatient and outpatient waiting list returns; what his Department's guidance is about the use of planned waiting lists; and if he will make a statement; [150538]
(2) how many people are waiting for cataract operations on (a) waiting lists and (b) planned lists in each English health trust for the latest date for which information is available; and if he will make a statement. [150540]
§ Mr. HuttonData are not collected on the number of patients currently waiting on planned lists.
The use of planned lists has been an established practice for over 10 years. The Department has issued guidance to National Health Service trusts within the central return KH07 on recording patients waiting on planned lists. It states:
Planned Admissions are those who have been given a date, or an approximate date, for admissions, usually as a planned sequence of clinical care. The date of admission for such patients is determined mainly on social or clinical grounds.In light of this guidance, it is likely that all trusts submitting waiting lists maintain planned lists for those patients requiring a planned sequence of clinical care.
Data are not collected on the number of patients currently waiting for cataract surgery. However, data are collected on the number of patients on inpatient waiting lists within the specialty of ophthalmology.
At quarter two, 2003–04, ending 30 September 2003, there were 130,060 patients on the inpatient waiting list for ophthalmology. Data are not collected on individual procedures within each specialty. Data for earlier quarters can be viewed on the Department's website at: www.doh.gov.uk/waitingtimes. The national cataract initiative has been introduced to reduce waiting times for cataract operations to three months by December 2004.