§ Dr. Roger Thomasasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will estimate the annual percentage increase which will be needed in Health Service financing to meet the extra geriatric needs of the next 10 years.
§ Mr. Kenneth ClarkeThe OPCS provisional 1981-based projections imply an annual percentage increase in overall demand due to demographic changes, including those projected for the elderly, on the hospital and community health services of some 0.7 per cent. per year on average over the next 10 years. However I do not accept the implications that the only way in which the service can keep pace with increasing demand is by increasing spending by exactly the same proportion.