[holding answer 23 May 2007]: The following table shows the numbers of admissions to hospital for a cataract operation in the last five years. The table does not include cataract operations carried out on an out-patient basis.
Strategic health authority 2005-06 2004-05 2003-04 2002-03 2001-02 Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire 16,677 16,938 16,310 14,868 12,778 Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 8,334 9,594 8,796 7,347 6,438 Essex 10,301 10,583 11,785 9,126 8,882 North West London 9,816 9,901 9,454 8,570 7,586 North Central London 5,981 6,695 6,105 5,413 4,913 North East London 7,985 8,478 9,146 7,344 5,687 South East London 6,596 6,800 7,882 7,131 5,580 South West London 6,688 6,146 7,660 6,597 5,878 Northumberland, Tyne and Wear 10,675 10,769 10,506 9,852 9,045 County Durham and Tees Valley 7,701 8,346 7,206 6,729 5,790 North and East Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire 9,617 10,477 10,168 9,569 7,417 West Yorkshire 10,291 12,074 10,992 10,852 10,889 Cumbria and Lancashire 11,967 12,679 13,330 12,216 10,318 Greater Manchester 13,147 14,087 13,403 13,338 13,046 Cheshire and Merseyside 12,545 12,516 14,356 11,849 11,773 Thames Valley 10,733 11,026 11,730 9,378 9,993 Hampshire and Isle of Wight 11,837 13,468 11,695 9,692 8,430 Kent and Medway 10,101 9,079 9,540 8,846 7,383 Surrey and Sussex 16,170 14,844 15,515 13,063 12,098 Avon, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire 12,508 14,455 12,282 12,279 11,132 South West Peninsula 11,252 12,866 12,101 10,301 10,022 Dorset and Somerset 8,185 8,064 8,748 8,116 7,225 South Yorkshire 8,546 8,967 8,469 9,024 7,311 Trent 17,693 17,458 16,251 14,794 13,751 Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and Rutland 7,417 7,285 6,995 6,388 6,364 Shropshire and Staffordshire 7,172 8,090 8,654 7,248 7,412 Birmingham and the Black Country 12,153 12,089 12,505 12,116 12,053 West Midlands South 6,508 7,170 7,721 7,804 7,836 288,596 300,944 299,305 269,850 247,030 Note: The figures given do not represent the number of patients, as a patient may have more than one episode of care within the year. Source: Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), The Information Centre for health and social care.