I am satisfied that considerable improvements have been made in recent years in the area of paediatric hospital services. In 2000 a total of 83,000 children aged 0-14 years were treated as in-patients in public hospitals. A further 28,000 day cases were treated. The total number of children treated annually between 1996 and 2000 has been maintained despite a reduction in the number of children in the population from 860,000 in 1996 to 824,000 in 2000. The rate of treatment has therefore increased over the period.
In the area of waiting lists the total number of children on public hospital waiting lists in target specialties in June 2001, the latest date for which figures are available, was 2,857. This figure represents a decrease of 583 or 17% on the comparable figure for June 2000.