§ Mrs. Renée Shortasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what reductions there have been in the number of National Health Service hospital beds in each year since 1979.
§ Mr. John PattenThe numbers of available beds in National Health Service hospitals from 1979 to 1983, the latest year for which figures are available centrally, are given in the table. It should be noted that the number of in-patient cases treated rose from 5,400,000 in 1979 to 6,019,000 in 1983 and the number of cases treated per available bed rose from 14.9 to 17.5 over this period.
347W
National Health Service Hospitals—England Year Average daily number of available beds 1979 361,670 1980 355,979 1981 351,669 1982 348,104 1983 343,091
Year Reduction in available beds between years 1979–80 5,691 1980–81 4,310 1981–82 3,565 1982–83 5,013