§ Dr. David Owenasked the Minister of Health (1) how much public expenditure is spent on informing the public of the existence of amenity and private beds, respectively; and what expenditure is incurred in publicising the details of the scheme and the method of applying;
(2) if he will place in the Library examples of all the official promotional material relating to amenity beds and private beds, respectively, in the National Health Service.
§ Mr. K. RobinsonIt is for individual hospital authorities with amenity and pay beds to inform the public of these facilities by hospital leaflets or other means. No information is available centrally on the expenditure for this purpose. Samples of leaflets were placed in the Library in June, 1966.
§ Dr. David Owenasked the Minister of Health what is the total number of amenity beds and private beds, respectively, in the National Health Service; what is their average occupancy; and what is the annual financial return from these beds.
§ Mr. K. RobinsonThe figures for 1966 (the latest period for which complete statistics are available) are as follows:
Amenity Beds Pay Beds Number of beds authorised and designated 4,662 Per cent. 5,572 Per cent. Average occupancy (a) by paying patients 30.0 51.4 (b) by non-paying patients 38.3 15.7 Revenue for the financial year ended 31st March, 1967 was £342,482 from amenity beds and £6,100,375 from pay beds.
Complete statistics for the year 1967, during which pay beds were reduced following the review, are not yet available.