§ Mr. Sillarsasked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will establish for the 383W duration of the winter an emergency plan to provide information on hospital bed resources throughout Scotland on a 24-hour basis, in an attempt to ensure that every old person whose medical condition requires it is admitted to hospital.
§ Mr. Gordon CampbellNo. Hospital authorities throughout Scotland already have arrangements for securing admission of patients requiring emergency treatment.
NATIONAL HEALTH SERVICE HOSPITAL STATISTICS SCOTLAND Unstaffed Beds by Specialty (see Footnote) at 30th September 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 General surgery … … … 144 217 75 81 101 92 101 Orthopaedic surgery … … … 116 148 122 159 94 44 120 E.N.T. surgery … … … … 36 72 19 71 92 28 34 Ophthalmology … … … … 18 65 33 25 18 12 55 Urology … … … … … 23 — — 34 — — 3 Neurosurgery … … … … 10 — — 43 35 35 35 Thoracic surgery … … … — — 18 54 18 28 — Plastic surgery … … … … 4 — — 2 31 32 32 Oral surgery … … … … — — — — — 12 — Other surgery … … … … — — — 17 — — — Paediatrics— Surgical … … … … 3 3 65 — — 7 — Medical … … … … 19 14 26 16 26 20 12 General medicine … … … 256 240 141 150 160 107 119 Cardiology … … … … — — — — — 31 — Neurology … … … … — — — — 12 — — Dermatology … … … … 4 12 — — 5 — 56 Physical medicine … … … — — — — — — 22 Chest medicine (other than Respiratory T.B.) … … … … … 1 7 40 28 98 15 15 Respiratory T.B. … … … 201 203 219 292 238 145 92 Geriatric assessment … … … 57 27 48 59 44 55 83 Chronic sick … … … … 183 238 255 253 261 483 193 Infectious diseases … … … 920 820 562 488 265 175 250 Gynaecology … … … … 35 36 113 6 78 33 27 Obstetrics specialist … … … 145 77 40 32 106 14 20 Obstetrics G.P. … … … … 12 13 3 2 2 2 5 Mental illness … … … … 86 312 330 431 417 386 433 Mental deficiency … … … 65 44 — 5 — 364 129 Convalescent … … … … 67 120 41 73 95 93 119 Radiotherapy … … … … 23 4 11 4 4 4 4 G.P. (other than obstetrics) … … 71 27 39 23 27 42 20 Others … … … … … 157 158 314 175 178 244 216 Total … … … … 2,656 2,857 2,457 2,523 2,309 2,504 2,195 Footnote: Derivation of "Unstaffed" The totals are the difference between the "approved bed complement" and "available staffed beds", and it cannot be assumed that they result only from the absence of staff. In many cases beds are temporarily withdrawn from service to allow for routine maintenance and repairs of ward areas.