§ Mr. AllenTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how many operations were contracted out to private hospitals in the Trent regional health authority; and at what cost during 1988.
§ Mr. MellorThe information is not available in the form requested. The latest available figures for Trent are for the 1986 calendar year and show a total of 816 discharges and deaths of patients receiving treatment under contractual arrangements with institutions outside the NHS. Expenditure in the Trent region on contractual 89W arrangements for patient treatment with non-NHS hospitals and homes was about £1,189,000 in 1986–87. This is a total figure and so includes sums incurred under contracts with voluntary and other organisations as well as private hospitals as such.