Page 4691 - Week 15 - Wednesday, 7 December 1994
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As I said the other day, we had seen a plateauing of recent months' increases, and the September figure was encouraging because it was trending in the right direction. Mrs Carnell - shock, horror! - I have some October figures. I will continue quoting from Mr Fraser:
The end of month October figure was 4513, of which 3462 was at WVH. The October figure for WVH was an increase of 57 over the September figure.
"Shock, horror!", says Mrs Carnell. Mr Fraser goes on:
The end-of-November raw figure for WVH alone ... is 3380, a reduction of 82.
I am not running around, saying, "When October was up by 57, Mrs Carnell says that I have misled the Assembly; the hospital system is collapsing; it is all in chaos; it is the worst ever". I have the November figures, which I have just produced to you, which show that it is considerably better - - -
Mrs Carnell: When you said that it had plateaued - - -
MR CONNOLLY: But I am not running around, saying, "Gee, this is wonderful. We have solved the problems. Everything is solved", because over the last several years the quarterly figures have been the basis for making comparisons.
Mrs Carnell: Nobody believes you, Terry.
MR CONNOLLY: I do not think that anybody believes you after your absurdity over the last week. When Mrs Carnell moved in this place that we publish quarterly figures, it was on the basis that they were the accurate and reliable figures, and those trends are significant.
Mrs Carnell: We wanted monthly figures.
MR CONNOLLY: Now we want monthly figures. We want daily figures. Mrs Carnell, your carping and whingeing is just over the top. Let me continue. Mr Fraser says:
It is important, however, that not too much emphasis is given to these figures.
that is, the reduction of 82 in November. He continues:
Month to month variations can tend to distort overall trends. This is why we examine things like the waiting list on a quarterly basis and average data over the quarter.
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