§ Mr. Fisherasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will carry out research into the variations in the length of stay of patients in different hospitals for the same treatment.
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§ Dr. John Dunwoody:Length of stay of the individual patient is a matter for clinical judgment. Hospital authorities already include average duration of stay by specialty in their routine statistics. They have been advised to let clinicians and hospital management have details regularly and to consider variations in practice in the context of more effective use of resources. Research is being carried out into factors effecting length of stay in hospital for the treatment of certain conditions as well as into the alternative of out-patient instead of in-patient treatment in circumstances where clinical and social conditions make this feasible.