asked the Scretary of State for Social Services if she will publish in the Official Report total capital spending on major projects—not minor works—within the National Health Service in each of the years from 1964 to 1975 at current prices, and aggregate capital expenditure on the National Health Service from 1948 to the present day.
I regret the information is not available in the form requested, but the estimated expenditure on major schemes is as follows:person has to wait before obtaining an appointment for the testing and fitting of a National Health Service behind-the-ear hearing aid.
The new NHS behind-the-ear hearing aids are prescribed and fitted in approximately 300 hospitals.Two models of the aid are currently available, manufactured to one broad specification, and most adults with an acquired partial hearing loss can benefit to some degree from these aids. Any general extension in their range must depend on availability of resources. Consultants already have discretion to prescribe commercial hearing aids for children and young people up to age 18 and to age 21 for those continuing in full-time education.Information about average waiting time is not collected in the form sought, but for the quarter ending September 1975,
| Adults | Children | |||||
| Region | Number fitted with behind-the-ear hearing aids, including replacements | Number for whom appointment made or on a waiting list for fitting including replacements | Number fitted with behind-the-ear hearing aids, including replacements | Number for whom appointment made or on a waiting list for fitting including replacements | ||
| Northern | … | … | 558 | 9,869 | 151 | 6 |
| Yorkshire | … | … | 2,236 | 2,831 | 102 | 7 |
| Trent | … | … | 461 | 842 | 135 | 11 |
| East Anglia | … | … | 307 | 163 | 77 | 8 |
| North-West Thames | … | … | 440 | 1,776 | 53 | 0 |
| North-East Thames | … | … | 615 | 3,666 | 152 | 15 |
| South-East Thames | … | … | 428 | 357 | 50 | 11 |
| South-West Thames | … | … | 396 | 465 | 50 | 21 |
| Wessex | … | … | 496 | 1,912 | 56 | 23 |
| Oxford | … | … | 167 | 452 | 31 | 4 |
| South-Western | … | … | 669 | 782 | 152 | 3 |
| West Midlands | … | … | 430 | 4,493 | 248 | 9 |
| Mersey | … | … | 296 | 3,144 | 100 | 28 |
| North-Western | … | … | 1,419 | 644 | 98 | 153 |
| Notes: | ||||||
| (1) Figures do not include returns from five area health authorities in four regional health authority areas. | ||||||
| (2) In some regions, the numbers of out-patients waiting for fitting are inflated by the inclusion of patients who fall in groups not at present eligible for these aids, but whose present hearing aid will eventually be replaced by a behind-the-ear hearing aid. | ||||||