§ Mr. BurstowTo ask the Secretary of State for Health when his Department started collecting the figures for angiography waiting times; and if he will make a statement on the reasons for collecting this data centrally. [158965]
§ Miss Melanie JohnsonImproving angiography access times forms an important part of the national service framework for coronary heart disease. Strategic health authorities outlined their plans to improve access in the local delivery plans (LDPs). Monitoring against the LDPs started in 2003–04. It is expected data will be of sufficient quality to publish shortly.
Hospital episode statistics which have been used previously outline the length of time someone had waited when treated, not the time someone is waiting.