§ Dr. Roger Thomasasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many geriatric beds there are in each health region of England at present; and what were the corresponding figures in May 1979.
§ Mr. John PattenThe requested information for 1983, the latest available year, and for 1979 is given in the table.
Average daily number of available beds in departments of geriatric medicine in National Health Service hospitals in England Region 1979 1983 ENGLAND 55,138.6 55,801.0 Northern 3,732.8 3,885.2 Yorkshire 5,306.9 5,040.6 Trent 5,055.5 5,228.8 East Anglian 2,318.5 2,416.9 North West Thames* 3,233.8 3,328.7 North East Thames* 4,444.1 4,573.9 South East Thames* 4,284.1 4,232.9 South West Thames* 3,087.4 3,034.5 Wessex 3,528.2 3,510.1 Oxford 2,084.6 2,005.5 South Western 3,745.2 3,848.1 West Midlands 6,216.0 6,230.1 Mersey 3,211.1 3,170.8 North Western 4,890.4 5,193.3 SHAs* and Boards of Governors — 101.6 * Because of National Health Service restructuring in 1982, figures for these regions are not strictly comparable between 1979 and 1983.