§ Mr. BurstowTo ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the answer of 24 June 2002,Official Report, column 740W, on hospital discharges, (1) where and when the target for a reduction in the number of people experiencing delayed discharge by 20 per cent. between March 2002 and March 2003 was published; [65186]
(2) what his target is for the reduction in the number of bed days lost through people experiencing delayed discharge from hospital. [65185]
§ Jacqui SmithThe 20 per cent. target figure was published in the Department's "Priorities and Planning Framework 2002–03" in December 2001, which is available on the Department's website. There is no target for bed days lost. We expect that there will be an increase in the number of available bed days as a consequence of the reduction in numbers of patients delayed, in line with that seen over the last two quarters of 2001–02.