HC Deb 29 June 1959 vol 608 c9W
Commander Pursey

asked the Minister of Health why the allocation of hospital beds in Hull is not co-ordinated by a central office; and why the Leeds Regional Hospital Board has not instituted a hospital bed bureau system in Hull, to deal with emergency cases and so avoid doctors, in the middle of the night, having to spend hours seeking a hospital to find a bed.

Mr. Walker-Smith

The allocation of acute hospital beds in Hull is coordinated by the Hull A Hospital Management Committee, and of other beds by the Hull B Hospital Management Committee. The finding of a bed is not left to the general practitioner. Arrangements already exist whereby the hospital service can channel emergency cases to whichever hospital is in a position to accept them and it has not hitherto been considered necessary to establish a separate bed bureau.