Website of the Department of Health

NHS inpatient and outpatient waiting times, 30 November 2008, and revisions for April to October 2008

The latest monthly national statistics on NHS inpatient and outpatient waiting times produced by the Department of Health were released on 9 January 2009.

The key points from the latest release are:

Inpatient waiting times

• The number of patients, for whom English commissioners are responsible, waiting over the 26 weeks standard for inpatient admission at the end of October 2008 was 56 (compared to the total of 551,000).
• The number of patients, for whom English commissioners are responsible, waiting over 13 weeks at the end of November 2008 was 32,900, a decrease of 7,900 (19.4%) from October 2008, and a fall of 14,500 (30.6%) from November 2007.

Outpatient waiting times

• The number of patients, for whom English commissioners are responsible, waiting over the 13 weeks standard for a first outpatient appointment following GP referral at the end of November 2008 was 235 (compared to the total of 857,000). Of these 235, 46 were English residents waiting for appointments in Welsh hospitals.
• The number of patients, for whom English commissioners are responsible, waiting over 8 weeks at the end of November 2008 was 39,000, a decrease of 3,000 (7.1%) from October 2008, but a rise of 8,600 (28.4%) from November 2007.
  

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