§ Mr. William Hamiltonasked the Secretary of State for Scotland how many hospital beds are not being used because of a shortage of nurses; and what were the comparable figures 5, 10 and 15 years ago.
§ Mr. RossThe information is not available in the form requested, but the following table sets out the numbers of unstaffed beds (for whatever reason) at dates approximating to those in the question.
156W
Scottish Hospitals Unstaffed beds Bed complement June, 1953 … … 3,704 64,610 March, 1956 … … 2,871 65,604 March, 1961 … … 2,387 65,493 March, 1966 … … 1,383 64,741 Though shortage of nurses is seldom, if, ever, the sole reason for beds not being used, the reduction shown in the table would not have been possible but for the built-up in nursing strengths in recent years.