§ Mr. Moonmanasked the Minister of Health what is the average cost per patient in a mental hospital compared with cost for out-patient facilities and community care.
§ Mr. K. RobinsonSuch a comparison cannot usefully be made because of the differences in the needs of patients receiving hospital treatment and community care and because of considerable variations in the length of in-patient or out-patient treatment and the nature and duration of community care.
The average costs in 1965–66 at hospitals for the mentally ill were £12 12s. 3d. per in-patient week and about £1 10s. per out-patient attendance and £10 17s. 8d. per in-patient week at 195W hospitals for the mentally subnormal; the costs of local authority provision for the mentally disordered were about £8 per week in residential accommodation and about £1 7s. 6d. per attendance at a training centre.