Mr. Bernard Gloster:

I am very happy to address that issue. I thank the Deputy for the opportunity to do so. The number of people on the waiting list on any one day does not tell the story of the activity and the most important metric, which is the length of time people are waiting. It is not the number; it is the length of time. All of the OECD reports evidence that.

In very simple terms I will talk about what the bang for buck is. Up to the end of August this year, we removed 1,184,000 people from waiting lists. That is 4.9% more than we removed in the same period last year. Up to the same period this year, additions to the waiting list, that is, new referrals from general practice to outpatient and other procedural waiting lists, was 1,225,000 people. That is up 6.9% on the same period last year.

The Deputy mentioned the slight difference in the number on given days and that there are marginally more people coming on than going off. Of course, that is what increases the number.