12 MAY 2007, Page 26

Wait in line

Sir: Average waiting times for an operation are not two weeks longer now than they were under Mrs Thatcher as Fraser Nelson stated (‘These elections will mark the final collapse of New Labour’, 28 April). They are, in fact, around 16 weeks shorter. Average in-patient waiting times were 23.7 weeks in 1987, the first year for which figures were collected in the same way as today. This has now fallen to seven weeks. So, far from confirming that the NHS is getting worse as The Spectator claimed, the figures highlight the remarkable progress of the past ten years.

Andy Burnham

Health Minister for Delivery and Reform, Department of Health, London SW1