§ Mr. Michael Brownasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) what proportion of Health Service expenditure is currently spent on hospitals;
(2) what is the current level of (a) total and (b) general costs in National Health Service hospitals;
(3) how expenditure on hospital and community health care for the current year is made up in terms of (a) capital expenditure, (b) catering, (c) portering and (d) domestic services.
§ Mr. Geoffrey Finsberg[pursuant to his reply, 4 March 1982, c. 228]: The printed table of expenditure by regional health authorities, area health authorities and boards of governors in 1980–81 should have read as follows:
Health Service patients and private patients under the National Health Service; what is his best estimate of the cost of treatment prior to operation for varicose veins in each of the areas of Scotland; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Allan StewartDuring 1979, the latest date for which information is available, the mean waiting time for patients admitted as in-patients from the waiting list for an 99W operation for varicose veins were as follows. Separate information is not available for private patients. It is not possible to make a reliable estimate of the cost of treatment prior to any particular type of operation.
Health Board Mean Wailing time* Ayrshire and Arran 237 days Borders 226 days Argyll and Clyde 283 days Fife 268 days Greater Glasgow 131 days Highland 78 days Lanarkshire 173 days Grampian 133 days Orkney 40 days Lothian 157 days Tayside 140 days Forth Valley 243 days Western Isles 78 days Dumfries and Galloway 456 days Shetland 183 days * Figures relate to those patients admitted from the waiting list and released from hospital during 1979.