§ Mr. Cantasked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether she will publish information relating to the occupancy rate of private pay beds in hospitals outside London.
§ Dr. OwenThe average daily occupancy by private patients of pay beds in National Health Service hospitals in England outside the four Thames metropolitan regions in 1973 was 46 per cent.
§ Mr. Cantasked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether she will make a statement on the percentage of pay beds available in respect of different types of illness, and in respect of different wards in hospitals.
§ Dr. OwenPay bed authorisations limit the maximum number of private patients who may be admitted and are not related to specific illnesses or assigned to particular wards of a hospital. Admission of patients for a particular condition or form of treatment is dependent partly on whether there is on the staff of a hospital a part-time consultant who undertakes private practice in the relevant specialty and partly on arrangements made locally by the health authority concerned. Such detailed information is not recorded centrally.
§ Mr. Watkinsonasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many people 75W in west Gloucestershire were admitted to private beds in National Health Service hospitals in west Gloucestershire in the last 12 months.
§ Mr. Sydney Irvingasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if she will give the number of pay beds in National Health Service hospitals region by region.
§ Dr. OwenThe numbers of pay beds authorised in National Health Service hospitals in each of the health regions of England are:
Northern … … 194 Yorkshire … … 355 Trent … … 303 East Anglia … … 167 North-West Thames … … 479 North-East Tames … … 446 South-East Thames … … 441 South-West Thames … … 267 Wessex … … 206 Oxford … … 222 South-Westem … … 217 West Midlands … … 451 Mersey … … 207 North-Western … … 382 A further 237 pay beds are authorised in the specialist postgraduate teaching hospitals in London.