Written question asked by Lord Beamish (Labour) on Wednesday, 12 October 2005, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 17 October 2005. It was answered by Liam Byrne (Labour) on Monday, 5 December 2005 on behalf of the Department of Health.

Alliance Medical

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 5 October 2005, Official Report, column 2810W, on Alliance Medical, when she envisages the new data reporting system will be in place; and at what cost.

Answer: [holding answer 17 October 2005]: The new diagnostic data collection will start across England in January 2006. It will enable the national health service to track progress towards meeting the Government's election pledge of a maximum wait of no more than 18 weeks from general practitioner referral to the start of hospital treatment. It will identify areas requiring focused attention and assist diagnostics capacity planning for future years.The Department estimates that, once the initial implementation stage is complete and being submitted through Unify, the Department's new system designed to capture and analyse NHS performance data, the cost burden on the NHS will be lower than for existing monthly returns.

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: 18882; 440 c1059W;440 c1059W
Session: 2005-06
Related items: Alliance Medical
Wednesday, 5 October 2005
Written questions
House of Commons
Subjects: Diagnosis ICT General practitioners NHS Medical records Standards
Link: View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk