§ 60. Mr. Crouchasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what are the principal reasons for the decline in the incidence of mental illness, requiring hospitalisation, reflected in the reductions in the average daily numbers of occupied beds allocated by National Health Service hospitals in England and Wales for the treatment of this disease, from 150,115 in 1955 to 121,941 in 1967.
§ Mr. SnowThe number of hospital admissions has increased but fewer beds are needed because the length of stay of in-patients has generally shortened and more patients are treated in day hospitals or out-patient clinics. The main reasons for this are improved methods of treatment.