To ask Her Majesty's Government further to the Written Answer by Lord Warner on 13 March 2006 (WA 192–3), how many additional and replacement cardiac catheter laboratories have been commissioned since 2001 under the major capital programme; and what was the total cost of the Treasury-funded cardiac capital programme. [HL4907]

Catheter laboratories are the facilities in which cardiologists undertake the main cardiological interventions for patients, such as angiography, angioplasty, pacemaker and implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) implants. As part of the National Service Framework for Coronary Heart Diseases there has been a national programme to increase the number of catheter laboratories across the country and also replace old and outdated facilities. There are two main routes through which this has been delivered.

First, there is the £613 million revascularisation capital programme that started in 2001 and is due to be completed in 2009. This has been funded by the department and strategic health authorities.

Secondly, there is the £125 million Big Lottery Fund catheter laboratories programme that started in 2001 and was completed in 2006. This was funded half by the lottery and half by the department.

The revascularisation capital programme comprised 29 developments across the country and included two completely new cardiothoracic centres, where services had not existed before, at Wolverhampton and Basildon and Thurrock. It provided major replacement centres at Blackpool, Liverpool, Hull, Nottingham, Manchester, Southampton, Plymouth and Bristol which included new wards, out-patient and diagnostic facilities, catheter laboratories, cardiac theatres and critical care beds. The programme also funded smaller schemes, some consisting of a single catheter laboratory suite. The total number of catheter laboratories constructed in this £613 million programme across all of the schemes is 53, of which 40 were additional catheter laboratories and 13 were replacements.

The Big Lottery Fund catheter laboratories programme made its first installations in 2002 and was completed in 2006. The programme has provided 90 brand new catheter laboratories; 72 of these are additional catheter laboratories and 18 replaced old and out-dated technology. Sixty-three of these laboratories have been developed in district general hospitals to provide improved local access (59 additional and four replacement) and 27 have been in tertiary centres cardiac centres (13 additional and 14 replacement) over and above the investment from the revascularisation capital programme.

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many NHS patients are on a waiting list for a coronary angiography procedure in each strategic health authority area in England; and what is the average waiting time for each such area. [HL4908]

At the end of May 2009 there were 8,310 people waiting for an angiogram in England, and 98 per cent of these were waiting three months or less and nobody was waiting longer than six months.

The waiting list in each strategic health authority (SHA) and the average wait for people on the waiting list at the end of May 2009 is shown in the table below.

To put this in perspective, five years ago (on 31 May 2004) there were 23,375 people waiting for an angiogram in England and 68 per cent of these were waiting three months or less and 6 per cent were waiting longer than six months.

Overall the total numbers waiting have reduced by 64 per cent and the number of people waiting over three months has reduced by 98 per cent.