§ Mr. Gordon PrenticeTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how many general hospitals(a) provide and (b) do not provide overnight accommodation for parents visiting their sick children.
§ Mr. EtheringtonTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) if she will list by district health authority all children's hospitals giving(a) the total number of beds, 1145W (b) the total number and percentage of beds available for overnight parental accommodation and (c) the average annual number of overnight stays by parents;
(2) if she will list by district health authority all hospitals with children's wards giving (a) the total number of beds, (b) the total number and percentage of beds available for overnight parental accommodation and (c) the average annual number of overnight stays by parents.
§ Mr. SackvilleInformation on parental overnight accommodation is not collected centrally. However, the Audit Commission report "Children First, A Study of Hospital Services" published in 1993, noted that most hospitals provide facilities for parents to stay overnight and indicated that in recent years there has been a considerable increase in the number of parents staying overnight.
Information on numbers of children's hospital beds is available in "Bed Availability for England, Financial Year 1993–94", copies of which are available in the Library.