§ Mr. BurstowTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what projections he has made of numbers of(a) long-term care beds, (b) nursing and residential beds and (c) acute care beds; what implications this will have for funding arrangements for care budgets (i) in general and (ii) with respect to continence care; and if he will make a statement. [60086]
§ Jacqui SmithI refer the hon. Member to the reply which I gave him on 16 May 2002,Official Report, column 871W. The projections published by the Personal Social Service Research Unit also include projections of long-stay beds in hospital. Projections of general and acute beds are contained in "Delivering the NHS Plan", copies of which are available in the Library.
In planning expenditure on long-term care, we need to take into account a number of other factors beyond the numbers of beds. People generally prefer to be supported in their own homes and so we are developing services which promote greater independence. As announced in the Budget, we are increasing the resources for personal social services by six per cent. in real terms in each of the next three years. This will ensure that councils have the resources that they need to purchase good quality services for the people that they serve. The organisation and 168W provision of continence services, and the manner in which they are delivered, is a matter for primary care trusts and NHS trusts. They are under an obligation to provide these services where the need exists, in light of resources and local priorities.