§ Paddy AshdownTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how many hospital beds were in use by the(a) East Somerset NHS Trust and (b) Taunton NHS Trust for each year since 1985–86. [144598]
§ Ms Stuart[holding answer 18 January 2001]: The information requested is shown in the table. It shows the average daily number of available beds in wards open overnight for East Somerset National Health Service Trust and Taunton and Somerset NHS Trust from 1991–92 to 1999–2000.
Figures from 1985 are not available in the form requested as the two organisations existed as NHS trusts only from 1991–92; therefore it is not possible to provide earlier separate figures.
Prior to NHS trusts being established, bed numbers were collected by district health authority. To ensure as complete a picture as possible the table also includes figures for Somerset DHA for 1985 to 1992–93. For 1991–92 and 1992–93 the DHA figures are for the mental health and community units which gained trust status in 1993–94 (called Avalon in earlier years, now Somerset Partnership). For comparison the figures for England for the same period are also included.
513W
Average daily number of beds in wards open overnight, NHS trusts and units in Somerset Health Authority area and England, 1985 to 1999–2000 East Somerset NHS Trust Taunton and Somerset NHS Trust Somerset Partnership NHS Trust Somerset DHA Total for Somerset HA area England 1996–97 405 909 431 — 1,745 198,848 1997–98 423 922 424 — 1,769 193,625 1998–99 405 870 419 — 1,694 190,006 1999–2000 406 853 408 — 1,668 186,290 Source:
DH form KH03