§ 73. Mr. William Hamiltonasked the Secretary of State for Scotland to what extent the hospital bed shortage has been reduced in the provision of hospital beds in the last five years.
§ Mr. RossThe problem of hospital beds in Scotland lies not so much in a shortage in total numbers as in imbalances in distribution between specialties and between localities and the age of many of our hospitals. To help meet this problem, over 3,700 beds, mainly for replacement purposes, were provided between March, 1962 and September, 1967 in new or substantially converted buildings, and schemes in progress at present will provide a further 3,300 beds.
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§ Mr. James Davidsonasked the Secretary of State for Scotland what was the total numbers of hospitals, hospital beds, and appropriate hospital staff in Scotland at the beginning of 1946, 1951, 1964 and at the latest available date.
§ Mr. RossFigures for 1946 are not available. The following information relates to 31st March in each year.
Year Hospitals Beds Staff 1951 … 392 62,451 50,680 1964 … 369 62,529 69,140 1966 … 370 62,468 73,579