asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what has been the increase in waiting lists and waiting times for gynaecology inpatient and outpatient treatment respectively in south London hospitals following the closure of the South London hospital for women.

The requested information on out patients is not available centrally. The available information for in-patients is given in the table. In general, figures on waiting lists are believed to include a significant proportion of duplicated entries and patients who no longer require treatment. About half of all admissions to hospital are immediate and many of those on waiting lists already have a planned date of admission.