§ Mrs. GormanTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Services what has been the decline in the number of beds in National Health Service hospitals since 1958.
§ Mrs. Currie[holding answer 21 January 1988]: The information requested is given in the table, together with in-patients treated over the period.
NHS hospitals in England Year Average daily number of available beds Discharges and deaths 1Throughput 1958 450,597 3,694,940 8.2 1959 448,795 3,782,731 8.4 1960 448,343 3,931,938 8.8 1961 442,343 4,035,374 9.1 1962 440,316 4,149,641 9.4 1963 439,176 4,317,981 9.8 1964 438,404 4,455,092 10.2 1965 437,408 4,540,162 10.4 1966 434,846 4,616,726 10.6 1967 434,378 4,722,399 10.9 1968 432,140 4,848,229 11.2 1969 428,737 4,968,391 11.6 1970 423,621 5,011,713 11.8 1971 419,612 5,170,791 12.3 1972 412,664 5,222,978 12.7 1973 403,526 5,132,302 12.7 1974 396,235 5,171,706 13.1 1975 387,632 4,975,750 12.8 1976 383,132 5,254,551 13.7 1977 375,926 5,344,967 14 2 1978 369,235 5,370,319 14.5 1979 361,670 5,400,120 14.9 1980 355,978 5,670,001 15.9 1981 351,669 5,759,877 16.4 1982 348,104 5,719,634 16.4 1983 343,091 6,016,585 17.5 1984 334,513 6,177,545 18.5 1985 325,487 6,353,812 19.5 1986 315,714 6,413,789 20.3 1 Number of cases per available bed.