§ Mrs. Iris RobinsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland pursuant to the answer of 4 February 2004,Official Report, column 946W, on physiotherapy, if he will provide six monthly totals for each of the last five years of patients who waited between three and six months for an initial physiotherapy assessment. [156439]
§ Angela SmithInformation is collected centrally on numbers of persons attending a first out-patient appointment of an episode of care with a community physiotherapist, rather than on initial physiotherapy assessments. The number of persons who had waited between three and six months for their appointment is shown in the following table. The information is in respect of six-month intervals from the quarter ending974W 30 September 1998 to the quarter ending 30 September 2003 (the latest date for which such information is available).
Persons who waited between three and six months Quarter ending Total number of persons Number Percentage 30 September 1998 9,863 905 9.2 31 March 1999 10,679 1,505 14.1 30 September 1999 11,837 1,504 12.7 31 March 2000 11,704 2,235 19.1 30 September 2000 11,492 1,403 12.2 31 March 2001 13,446 1,995 14.8 30 September 2001 12,754 2,800 22.0 31 March 2002 14,154 2,741 19.4 30 September 2002 14,303 2,610 18.2 31 March 2003 15,644 2,632 16.8 30 September 2003 12,798 2,542 19.9