The NHS Performance Tables show headline indicators of the performance of NHS Trusts, including Ambulance Services, and of Health Authorities. This year we have included some new indicators, which are shown in bold in the following pages, with our reasons for including them. The Government is also publishing a range of other indicators of NHS performance, including Clinical Indicators. If you are interested in seeing any of these indicators, please see the section below on 'Further information'.

What the Tables show

Table 1 shows:

Outpatient appointments

• how long patients had to wait for a first appointment after referral by their GP

• the percentage of first outpatient appointments where the patient did not attend

• how quickly patients were seen when they attended a clinic.

Admissions into hospital

• how long non-emergency patients had to wait for admission

• the percentage of non-emergency patients whose admission was arranged but who did not attend. This indicator has been included to show that, while accepting that hospitals can work to improve the figures, patients can also play their part - for example, by letting the hospital know if they will not be attending for treatment

• how long non-emergency patients had to wait for a re-arranged operation, if their operation was cancelled at the last minute for non-medical reasons.

Table 2 shows how many patients went home on the same day as their operation.

Tables 3a and 3b show how long outpatients had to wait for a first appointment after referral by their GP (these are figures from Table 1, shown separately for 14 medical specialties).

Tables 4a and 4b show how long non-emergency patients had to wait for admission (these are figures from Table 1, shown separately for 14 medical specialties).

Table 5 shows performance against NHS complaints procedures. It shows how well Trusts are handling complaints, including:

• the total number of written complaints about hospital and community health services (including Ambulance Services)

• the total number of written complaints which were resolved locally within the performance target time of four weeks

• the total number of requests for convening an Independent Review.

Table 6 shows Health Authorities' coverage of cervical screening, breast screening and childhood immunisation programmes, and care of the elderly.

We are including breast cancer registration and mortality rates for the first time. This will allow comparison over time of NHS performance in detecting and treating this disease. The ratios shown compare actual and expected registration and mortality rates for each Health Authority. A ratio higher than 100 shows that the rate is above the national average.

The indicators on care of the elderly - emergency admission and delayed discharges of patients - show how well hospital, community health and social services are integrated.

The Government encourages health and social services to work in partnership. Where this is effective, the level of emergency admissions to hospitals may be reduced. Similarly, well-integrated health and social services may lead to a low level of delayed discharges from hospital.

Tables 7a and 7b show how quickly ambulances arrived at the scene of an incident following an emergency call. Table 7b differs from 7a in that it includes response times for only those Ambulance Services which have implemented the new call prioritisation system.