§ 41. Mr. Pavittasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is his estimate of the number of patients and new outpatients who will be admitted to National Health Service hospitals after 1 October and what is his estimate of the number of extra administrative man-hours that will be needed to check the availability of National Health Service treatment for them under the scheme he announced on 22 February.
§ Mr. FowlerI would expect the number of inpatients to be at the annual rate of about 5¾ million and new outpatients to be around 8 million. I cannot offer an estimate for additional administrative man-hours but I would expect the total to be minimal.