Captain BALFOURasked the Minister of Health the number of beds available in the county council of Kent institutions for pulmonary tuberculosis; the number of patients awaiting admission for this disease on 1st January, 1st February and 1st March, 1930; if the proportion of waiting subjects to available beds is considered satisfactory by the Ministry of Health; and, if not, whether he will take steps to improve this state of affairs?
§ Mr. GREENWOODThe average number of beds available in the year 1929–30 under the scheme of the Kent County Council for the treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis was 364, of which 155 were in institutions provided by the county council. The numbers of persons suffering from pulmonary tuberculosis who were awaiting admission to residential institutions were 74, 60 an 72 on the 1st January, 1st February and 1st March, respectively, but the number so waiting had been reduced to 50 on the 1st of this month. The proportion which that number bears to the number of available beds is slightly higher than for the country as a whole, but I am informed that the average waiting period in Kent is approxi- 3101W mately one month only. I understand that the county council are giving consideration to this matter and that they propose, as a temporary measure, to reduce the waiting list by the use for suitable cases of accommodation in the Poor Law institutions which were transferred to them on the 1st of this month.