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Together with our organisational reforms,
Together with our organisational reforms, the investment is paying off.
The maximum time that people waited for operations in 1997 was
well over 18 months. Now virtually no one waits longer than nine
months, and this year it will fall further to six months.For a heart operation
or for cataract removal no one is waiting longer than three
months; 97 per cent of people wait less than four hours in Accident
and Emergency before treatment, admission or discharge. And speedier
treatment saves lives. Death rates from heart disease are down by
27 per cent since 1996; from cancer by 12 per cent.