§ Mr. Ronald Brownasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will list in the Official Report (a) how many wards in the following hospitals contain private beds: St. Bartholomew's, St. Mark's, St. Matthew's, Eastern, Hackney and German; (b) how many of the wards containing private beds are now closed; and (c) how many wards containing National Health Service beds are currently closed in each hospital.
§ Mr. Moyle, pursuant to his reply [Official Report, 9th May 1977], gave the following information:
Private beds need not be set aside within a particular ward, but, where authorised, private patients may be admitted to any part of the hospital. St. Bartholomew's Hospital has six such private beds authorised, St. Mark's 12 and the German three. There are no other authorised private beds at the hospitals listed.
At present St. Mark's restricts private admissions to eight places only and the German admits no private patients. Authorised private beds will be reduced from 21st May by three at St. Mark's and three at the German under the provisions of the Health Services Act 1976.
Ward closures at the listed hospitals, including temporary closures for economy or for upgrading, are as follows:
St. Bartholomew's Hospital … 3 St. Mark's Hospital … 1 St. Matthew's Hospital … 1 Eastern Hospital … 1 Hackney Hospital … 6 German Hospital … nil