§ Mr. Ronnie CampbellTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will list the cost to the national health service, per patient per night, for each of the five regions in Northumberland, during the last five years, of patients staying at least one night in hospital.
§ Mr. SackvilleInformation in the precise form requested is not collected centrally. Information derived806W from annual financial returns submitted to the Department by the Northumberland district health authority is shown in the table:
Northumberland district health authority Average daily cost per patient using a bed1 £ (cash) 1987–88 30 1988–89 39 1989–90 43 1990–91 48 1991–92 Northern and Mental Health Unit 85 Northgate Unit 59 South East Northumberland Unit 130 Tynedale Unit 81 1 Inpatients and day cases. Notes:
1. The figures are average costs for all specialties provided. Those for 1991–92 are provisional.
2. There are discontinuities between the data for 1991–92 and those for earlier years. For the years 1987–88 to 1990–91 specialty cost returns were submitted on a district basis and covered treatment arid diagnostic costs only. For 1991–92 the returns were submitted on a Directly Management Unit (DMU) basis and covered total costs (ie inclusive of estate and support services costs which were formerly excluded).
3. Daily costs will inevitably vary widely between specialties and individual patients. The average costs of particular DMUs will also be influenced by the range of specialties provided by the Unit and other local factors.