Drugs: Misuse
Mr Hanson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment his Department has made of the volatile substance abuse framework document, Out of sight, not out of mind; and whether he plans to review the framework. [70459]
Sarah Teather: I have been asked to reply.
The volatile substance abuse framework was developed under the previous Administration and no recent assessment has been made of it. There are no plans to review the framework.
General Practitioners: Conferences
Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will publish a transcript of the remarks he made at the conference for clinical commissioning groups held on 14 September 2011. [72301]
Mr Simon Burns: The Secretary of State for Health, my right hon. Friend the Member for South Cambridgeshire (Mr Lansley), spoke to a large audience of emerging clinical commissioning group leaders at a joint NHS Alliance and National Association of Primary Care conference at the Royal Horticultural Halls and Conference Centre on 14 September 2011.
A copy of the Secretary of State's speech has been placed in the Library and is also available on the Department's website:
http://mediacentre.dh.gov.uk/2011/09/16/speech-16-september-2011-andrew-lansley-napc-nhs-alliance-conference/
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General Practitioners: North-east England
Mr Nicholas Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the names are of the clinical commissioning group board members for the North East; and which of these received remuneration from (a) Virgin Health and (b) Assura. [72716]
Mr Simon Burns: Emerging clinical commissioning groups currently operate under delegated authority from primary care trusts (PCTs), as a committee or sub-committee of a PCT. They cannot have a Board until they are formally established. The Department would not hold details of board members.
Hay Diet
Mr Buckland: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what information his Department holds on the Hay Diet; and what his policy is on the use of such diets in education on healthy living. [72300]
Anne Milton: The Department does not hold any specific evidence on the Hay diet. The Department advises that the pubic should follow a balanced diet, as shown in the eatwell plate that includes plenty of fruit and vegetables and starchy foods and is low in salt, saturated fat and added sugars.
Public Health
John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what joint work is being undertaken between Public Health Responsibility Deals and Change4Life. [72672]
Anne Milton: The Responsibility Deal and Change4Life are two separate initiatives which both aim to improve public health. Change4Life is a society-wide movement that aims to prevent people from becoming overweight by encouraging them to eat better and move more. It is the marketing component of the Government's response to the rise in obesity and as such, it is a useful vehicle for public facing Responsibility Deal activities.
One example of the joint work between the Responsibility Deal and Change4Life is the individual Responsibility Deal pledge commitment by the Association of Convenience Stores to work with its members to roll out Change4Life branding into 1,000 stores to improve fruit and vegetable availability in deprived areas.
John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much funding he has allocated to each Public Health Responsibility Deal network in financial years (a) 2011-12, (b) 2012-13, (c) 2013-14 and (d) 2014-15. [72673]
Anne Milton: In 2011-12, the Department has allocated funding of £100,000 to cover costs relating to the central running of the Responsibility Deal.
It is not possible to provide information on funding in future years because budgets are subject to the Department's business planning process which takes place each year for the following financial year.
Implementation of the Public Health Responsibility Deal pledges will be carried out by partner organisations and the costs of doing this will be incurred by these organisations.
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Health and Social Care Bill
John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the cost to the public purse was of the drafting by Parliamentary Counsel of the text of and amendments to the Health and Social Care Bill (a) before its First Reading on 19 January 2011 and (b) from 20 January 2011 to date. [72299]
Mr Simon Burns: The estimated cost to the Department of Health of the drafting by Parliamentary Counsel of the text and amendments to the Health and Social Care Bill 2011 is £294,000. Of this, £154,000 relates to the period before the Bill's first reading on 19 January 2011, and £140,000 relates to the period from 20 January 2011 to date.
This figure relates the costs charged to the Department by the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel.
Health Professions: Regulation
Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will bring forward legislative proposals to govern the training and regulation of health care assistants. [72359]
Anne Milton: There are no plans to introduce statutory regulation for health care assistants.
The Government’s view, as set out in the Command Paper “Enabling Excellence”, is that the approach to the regulation of health and social care workers must be proportionate and targeted, and we do not believe that the case has been made for subjecting low-paid workers to an additional tier of regulation.
Employers of health care assistants must take responsibility for the quality of services provided. It is also essential that appropriate professional responsibility is taken and accountability demonstrated for effectively supervising any unregulated support staff.
The Health and Social Care Bill currently before Parliament will enable a system of assured voluntary registration to be established for health and social care workers not subject to statutory regulation, including health care assistants.
Subject to parliamentary approval, this will provide employers with an additional mechanism to satisfy themselves that unregulated workers are appropriately trained and qualified.
Health Services: North-east England
Mr Nicholas Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many full-time equivalent Care Quality Commission inspectors were tasked with undertaking inspections as part or all of their work in the North East Strategic Health Authority region in (a) 2009 and (b) 2010. [72717]
Mr Simon Burns: The following information has been supplied by the Care Quality Commission (CQC):
On 1 April 2009 there were 41.37 whole-time equivalent (WTE) inspectors/assessors involved in carrying out inspections plus two dedicated enforcement inspectors, who also carried out inspections associated with
10 Oct 2011 : Column 305W
enforcement activity in the North East Strategic Health Authority (NE SHA). In Quarter 2 of 2009, internal restructuring led to nine redundancies in the NE SHA region and consequently from 1 January 2010 there were 32.37 WTE inspectors plus two enforcement inspectors.
The establishment of compliance inspectors in the NE SHA region was 33 WTE posts However, from 17 May 2010, a new field force restructure was implemented that aimed to re-direct CQC resources to front line from its overall budgeted allocation for staff. This led to an increase to 39 WTE compliance inspectors in the NE region with effect from 3 February 2011.
There is no reference to enforcement inspectors in 2010-11 as these roles were subsumed into the compliance inspector roles.
At the present time all posts of compliance inspector are filled.
Mr Nicholas Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many workplace inspections Care Quality Commission inspectors undertook in the North East Strategic Health Authority region in (a) the independent sector and (b) NHS workplaces in (i) 2009 and (ii) 2010. [72718]
Mr Simon Burns: The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator of health and adult social care in England and is responsible for developing and consulting on its methodology for assessing whether providers are meeting the registration requirements under the Health and Social Care Act 2008.
CQC provided the following information about inspections it carried out in 2009-10 and 2010-11.
10 Oct 2011 : Column 306W
Health: Research
Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will consider the merits of introducing a statutory duty on the Secretary of State for Health and health bodies to promote health research. [72516]
Mr Simon Burns: Clause 5 of the Health and Social Care Bill outlines a duty that, in exercising functions in relation to the health service, the Secretary of State must have regard to the need to promote research on matters relevant to the health service, and the use in the health service of evidence obtained from research.
Clause 20 of the Bill outlines further provisions for the NHS Commissioning Board including a duty that the Board must, in the exercise of its functions, have regard to the need to promote research on matters relevant to the health service, and the use in the health service of evidence obtained from research.
Clause 23 of the Bill outlines general duties for clinical commissioning groups including a duty that each group must, in the exercise of its functions, have regard to the need to promote research on matters relevant to the health service, and the use in the health service of evidence obtained from research.
Clause 62 of the Bill outlines matters Monitor must have regard to in exercising its functions, including a duty that it must have regard to the need to promote research on matters relevant to the national health service by persons who provide health care services for the purposes of the NHS.
Hospitals: Waiting Lists
John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what performance measure of inpatient referral to treatment time his Department has assessed as the most effective indicator of (a) NHS trust or NHS foundation trust performance and (b) NHS performance nationwide; [72308]
(2) what performance measure of inpatient referral to treatment time his Department has assessed as the most effective indicator of waiting times. [72309]
Mr Simon Burns: The Department believes it is important to monitor and report information on the time patients waited before starting their treatment and on the waiting time of those yet to start treatment. This provides patients with information to inform their choices of where they want to be treated. It also enables NHS organisations to benchmark their own performance and ensure that they are delivering a high quality service to their patients.
As set out in the “NHS Operating Framework for 2011/12” published on 15 December 2010,
'patients' rights to access services within maximum waiting times under the National Health Service Constitution will continue'
'there will be monitoring of compliance with this and the 95th percentile of waiting time'.
In line with this, the Department publishes statistics on both the patient wait until the start of treatment and on the patient wait for those still waiting. In both cases, the information published includes the percentage of patients within 18 weeks, the 95th percentile and average
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(median) wait. This information is provided at an England level broken down by NHS commissioner and provider and by treatment function. Detailed tables by commissioner and provider can be found at:
www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Statistics/Performancedataandstatistics/ReferraltoTreatmentstatistics/index.htm
The United Kingdom Statistics Authority has designated these statistics as National Statistics. Designation can be broadly interpreted to mean that the statistics:
meet identified user needs;
are well explained and readily accessible;
are produced according to sound methods, and
are managed impartially and objectively in the public interest.
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Influenza: Vaccination
John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the level of uptake was of the influenza vaccination offered by the NHS amongst (a) people aged over 65 years, (b) pregnant women, (c) people with a serious medical condition, (d) residents in (i) a long-stay residential care home and (ii) other long-stay care facilities, (e) main carers of elderly or disabled people and (f) frontline health and social care workers in each of the last five years. [72262]
Anne Milton: The data that are available on the uptake of seasonal influenza vaccine by various groups in England in the seasonal influenza vaccination programmes in the years 2006-07 to 2010-11 are shown in the following table.
The data above are taken from reports available at:
www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publichealth/Immunisation/Keyvaccineinformation/DH_104070
John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has for expenditure on national influenza vaccination publicity in 2011-12. [72345]
Anne Milton: Final spend on publicity for the seasonal flu programme in 2011-12 is yet to be confirmed.
The Department will not be running a national vaccination advertising campaign for the 2011-12 flu season. To date in 2011-12 the Department has spent money on updating information materials for use by health professionals and is intending to run reminder messages on pharmacy bags. These messages aim to encourage people in at-risk groups to be vaccinated against seasonal flu. They will appear on pharmacy bags across 2,225 pharmacies in England and run for four weeks until 20 November. Pharmacy bags will support local campaigns as they target people in at-risk groups in a relevant setting, i.e. when they are collecting their prescription from their pharmacy.
Following last winter, the Department has reviewed the evidence base for mass media campaigns in driving uptake and it is not clear that advertising results in more people being vaccinated. Vaccine uptake rates in 2010 were very similar to previous years. Therefore, the Department is not planning to run a national advertising campaign for seasonal flu vaccination this autumn.
Methadone: Wirral
Mr Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people in each Parliamentary constituency in the Wirral have been using methadone for (a) four, (b) five, (c) six, (d) seven, (e) eight, (f) nine and (g) 10 or more consecutive years. [72347]
Anne Milton: Information is not collected by parliamentary constituency. I refer the right hon. Member to the written answer I gave him on 13 September 2011, Official Report, column 1122W.
NHS: Finance
John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what expenditure has been approved by each strategic health authority under paragraph 5.6 of the NHS Operating Framework 2011-12. [72332]
Mr Simon Burns: The following 2011-12 non-recurrent planned expenditure has been approved by each strategic health authority to date, and has also been supported by the strategic health authority directors of finance group in accordance with the 2% non-recurrent expenditure requirement for primary care trusts, as laid out in the “2011-12 Operating Framework”.
| Strategic health authority | £ million |
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A significant part of the 2% non-recurrent expenditure relates to the Quality, Innovation, Productivity and Prevention initiatives in both trust and primary care trusts, and service redesign costs not related to the new landscape.
NHS: Private Patients
John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what the level of the cap on private patient income is for each NHS foundation trust; [72281]
(2) how much income from private patients each NHS foundation trust received in each of the last five financial years; and what proportion of their (a) private patient income cap and (b) total turnover such income represented in each case. [72297]
Mr Simon Burns: The information relating to the last two years has been placed in the Library.
Due to changes in accounting practice the information relating to the previous three years could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Ophthalmic Services: Finance
Vernon Coaker: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what funding he has allocated to the NHS for eye lens treatments in financial year 2011-12; and if he will make a statement. [72727]
Mr Simon Burns: Primary care trust (PCT) recurrent revenue allocations are not broken down by service or policy area. It is currently for PCTs to commission services to meet the healthcare needs of their local populations, taking account of local and national priorities.
Pancreatic Cancer: Screening
Fiona Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he is taking to increase early diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. [72264]
Paul Burstow: On 12 January 2011, we published “Improving Outcomes: A Strategy for Cancer”. The strategy sets out an ambition to save at least an additional 5,000 lives every year by 2014-15 through earlier diagnosis of cancer and improved access to screening and radiotherapy. To support earlier diagnosis of cancer, the Government have committed over £450 million over the next four years, which includes provision for the funding of awareness activity and measures to support general practitioners to diagnose cancer earlier.
The strategy also sets out our commitment to work with a number of rarer cancer-focused charities to assess what more can be done to encourage appropriate referrals to secondary care and to diagnose rarer cancers
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earlier. Departmental officials have already met with a number of these charities, including a pancreatic cancer charity, with the aim of identifying some of the barriers to early diagnosis and to discuss potential solutions. This will inform our future work in this area.
On 16 September, we announced plans to roll out a regional awareness symptom campaign focusing on lung cancer in October and a national campaign focussing on bowel cancer next year. In addition, there will be local trial campaigns for less common cancers, namely oesophagogastric cancer and the symptom blood in urine (an indicator of kidney and bladder cancers). Work is also under way to test the feasibility of developing a more generic cancer campaign that could apply to all cancer types including pancreatic cancer.
Plastic Surgery: Regulation
Jo Swinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether he has considered the merits of establishing an official regulatory body for the cosmetic surgery industry. [72521]
Mr Simon Burns: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Central Suffolk and North Ipswich (Dr Poulter) and my hon. Friend the Member for Hove (Mike Weatherley) on 9 May 2011, Official Report, column 1055W.
Radiotherapy
Tessa Munt: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has for future commissioning of radiotherapy. [72663]
Paul Burstow: The Government’s proposals are to pass the commissioning of most services, including cancer services to groups of general practitioner practices, known as clinical commissioning groups. However, some specialised commissioning will be directly commissioned by the NHS Commissioning Board. Decisions have not yet been taken about the appropriate level for commissioning radiotherapy services.
Tessa Munt: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps (a) his Department and (b) the National Cancer Action Team is taking to address geographical differences in radiotherapy treatment. [72664]
Paul Burstow: The National Cancer Action Team (NCAT) supports local teams, cancer networks and commissioners by providing a range of advice, tools and support modelling demand for improving capacity, quality and productivity of radiotherapy services.
The Department and NCAT published the first annual report of the radiotherapy dataset “RTDS Annual Report 2009/2010” in August. It provides an accurate baseline from which we can measure and assess improvements and changes in radiotherapy services and enables local services to focus on understanding the reasons for variations.
A copy of this report has been placed in the Library.
Tessa Munt:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) with reference to the recommendations of the National Radiotherapy Implementation Group, what steps (a) his Department and (b) the National Cancer
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Action Team is taking to ensure that stereotactic body radiotherapy treatment is made available to more NHS patients; [72665]
(2) whether local trusts are required to implement the recommendations of the National Radiotherapy Implementation Group report which have been accepted by his Department. [72666]
Paul Burstow: The National Radiotherapy Implementation Group (NRIG) report, “Stereotactic Body Radiotherapy (SBRT) Guidelines for Commissioners, Providers and Clinicians in England 2011”, which has been made available on the National Cancer Action Team website at:
www.ncat.nhs.uk/our-work/ensuring-better-treatment/radiotherapy
made a comprehensive assessment of the role and opportunities for SBRT in cancer treatment. The report brought together all the existing evidence on SBRT and concluded that only a small number of patients would benefit from this treatment. There are at least 20 radiotherapy centres across the country with the capability of delivering this treatment.
Ensuring that all cancer patients receive the appropriate treatment delivered to a high standard is critical to improving cancer outcomes. It is now for the local NHS to take account of this guidance when considering whether to commission SBRT for a particular indication. As with all clinical decisions, these should be made locally on a case-by-case basis taking into account the individual circumstances of each patient.
Tessa Munt: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 6 September 2011, Official Report, column 694W, on the Specialised Service Transitional Oversight Group, how many of those appointed to the Specialised Service Transitional Oversight Group have a professional (a) medical and (b) financial background. [72732]
Mr Simon Burns: Membership of the Specialised Service Transitional Oversight Group is drawn from a broad range of stakeholders with an interest in specialised commissioning. Dr Kathy McLean, Chair of the clinical advisory group, has a medical background.
The Transitional Oversight Group is part of a wider governance framework.
Tessa Munt: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 6 September 2011, Official Report, columns 586-7W, on radiotherapy, (1) where in the 2011-12 recurrent revenue allocation exposition book the allocation from the £150 million budget for expanding radiotherapy capacity is located; [72734]
(2) whether the £150 million budget is ring-fenced for expenditure on expanding radiotherapy capacity by trusts in their localities; [72735]
(3) how much of the £150 million to be spent on expanding radiotherapy capacity will be made available in the (a) second, (b) third and (c) fourth years. [72736]
Paul Burstow:
The exposition book 2011-12 sets out the fair shares calculation, which underpins each primary care trust's (PCT) total resource allocation.
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This calculation takes into account local population characteristics to ensure that each PCT is given a total allocation in line with the relative needs of its population. The total resource allocation for each PCT is calculated using local population characteristics on an overall basis, rather than being calculated as a sum of individual treatment areas. Therefore, the £150 million funding for increased radiotherapy capacity is not listed separately in the exposition book; it is captured as part of the overall resource allocations in the ‘Allocations’ tab.
The £150 million is not ring-fenced. Overall baseline allocations are currently set on the basis of a weighted capitation formula, used to determine PCTs target shares of overall national health service resources to enable them to commission similar levels of health services for populations in similar need. The Secretary of State for Health does not mandate how much individual PCTs are to spend on particular services within these overall allocations. PCTs have local discretion to decide how to use their overall allocation to commission services, including radiotherapy services, to meet the health care needs of their local populations, taking account of local and national priorities.
From 2011, available funding for expanding radiotherapy capacity is as follows:
|
|
£ million |
This excludes funding for expanding proton beam therapy services.
Radiotherapy: South-west England
Tessa Munt: To ask the Secretary of State for Health with reference to the 2010-11 recurrent revenue allocation exposition book, how much of the budget of (a) North Somerset Primary Care Trust, (b) Somerset Primary Care Trust and (c) the South West Strategic Health Authority was spent on radiotherapy services. [72733]
Mr Simon Burns: The South West Strategic Health Authority (SHA) does not commission health care and so does not spend any resource on radiotherapy services. Information on spending by primary care trusts (PCTs) on radiotherapy services is not held centrally.
The 2010-11 recurrent revenue allocations for the above bodies are contained in the following table:
|
|
2010-11 recurrent revenue allocation (£000) | 2010-11 cash increase (£000) | 2010-11 cash increase (percentage) |
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Smoking: Children
Stephen McPartland: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the cost to the NHS of treating children with passive smoking-related illnesses, including the cost of primary care visits and hospital admissions in the last year for which figures are available. [72325]
Anne Milton: The Department has not made an assessment of the cost to the NHS associated with the treatment of illnesses in children caused by exposure to second-hand smoke.
The Royal College of Physicians (RCP), in its 2010 report “Passive Smoking in Children”, provided estimates of the approximate number of cases of disease and the consequent morbidity in children caused by exposure to second-hand smoke in the United Kingdom. This report also estimated the cost to the NHS of treating diseases caused by exposure to second-hand smoke among children in the United Kingdom. The RCP’s report is available at:
http://bookshop.rcplondon.ac.uk/contents/pub305-e37e88a5-4643-4402-9298-6936de103266.pdf
Social Services: Reform
Julian Sturdy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the Government's timetable is for producing a White Paper on the reform of social care following the Dilnot Report. [72287]
Paul Burstow: Following the launch of ‘Caring for Our Future: Shared ambitions for care and support’ on 15 September, we will be engaging widely on social care reform. This is an opportunity to bring together the recommendations from the Law Commission and the Commission on the Funding of Care and Support with the Government's Vision for Adult Social Care, and to discuss what the priorities for reform should be.
We will be engaging with stakeholders, carers and service users over the autumn to understand these priorities. Following this engagement, the Government are committed to publishing a care and support White Paper and a progress report on funding by April 2012. It remains our intention to legislate to this effect at the earliest opportunity.
Solvents: Misuse
Mr Hanson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent assessment his Department has made of the work of (a) hospital trusts, (b) voluntary organisations and (c) local education authorities concerning the prevention of volatile substance abuse. [70461]
Sarah Teather: I have been asked to reply.
No recent assessments have been made concerning the prevention of volatile substance abuse. Department for Education research published in February 2011 looked at the costs and benefits of specialist drug and alcohol services for young people. Also, as part of the 2010 Drug Strategy, officials looked at international evidence on preventing substance misuse, consulting widely on the most effective ways of doing so. Government Departments are working closely to ensure commitments made in the Drug Strategy are met.
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The non-ringfenced Early Intervention Grant will allow local authorities to prioritise funding according to local need and where it will have the greatest impact.
Strokes: Medical Treatments
Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of NHS stroke treatment; and if he will make a statement. [72362]
Mr Simon Burns: We continue to monitor the improvements made in stroke services through a variety of mechanisms. Both the National Sentinel Stroke audit and the Stroke Improvement National Audit Programme (SINAP) provide information on various aspects of stroke services. In particular, SINAP provides quarterly information about the care provided to stroke patients in their first three days in hospital that can be used to improve stroke services and so improve outcomes for patients.
Stroke is an integrated measure of performance in the “Operating Framework for the National Health Service in England for 2011/12”. Information is collected quarterly on two key markers of good quality stroke care. Local health communities can use this data to help judge where improvements need to be made.
In addition, the Stroke Improvement Programme, which is part of NHS Improvement, is working through their networks using evidence-based approaches that are both clinically and cost-effective to go further in improving stroke care across the whole pathway.
Sunderland Royal Hospital: Waiting Lists
Julie Elliott: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people were on waiting lists for operations at Sunderland Royal hospital on 1 September in each year since 2005; and what the average waiting time was in each year. [72395]
Mr Simon Burns: Information on numbers of people on waiting lists for operations at individual hospitals is not centrally held.
The closest available data are monthly in-patient waiting list data. Information on in-patient (overnight and day case combined) waiting list statistics for City Hospitals Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust (FT) on 31 August 2005-09 is shown in the following table:
|
|
Total in-patient waiting list | Average (median) waiting time (weeks) |
| Notes: 1. In-patient waiting times are measured from decision to admit by the consultant to admission to hospital. 2. The figures show the median waiting times for patients still waiting for admission at the end of the month. 3. Median waiting times are calculated from aggregate data, rather than patient level data, and therefore are only estimates .of the position on average waits. 4. The MMRPROV return was discontinued from April 2010. Source: Department of Health Monthly Waiting Times—Monthly Monitoring Return Provider (MMRPROV). | ||
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Waiting list data for April 2010 onwards relate to Referral to Treatment (RTT) waiting times. They show waiting times for the whole patient pathway, from initial referral through to the point at which either first definitive treatment is provided or a decision not to treat is made. Data on incomplete pathways relate to those patients still waiting at the end of the month.
Information on incomplete RTT waiting list statistics for City Hospitals Sunderland NHS FT on 31 August 2009 and 2010 is shown in the following table:
10 Oct 2011 : Column 316W
|
|
Total number of incomplete pathways | Average (median) waiting time (weeks) |
| Notes: 1. RTT waiting times are measured from general practitioner referral to start of first definitive treatment. 2. Incomplete RTT pathways show waiting times for patients still waiting to start treatment at the end of the month. 3. Median waiting times are calculated from aggregate data, rather than patient level data, and therefore are only estimates of the position on average waits. 4. Incomplete RTT pathway data are available from August 2007. Source: Department of Health Referral to Treatment waiting times—RTT return | ||