§ Sir D. Rentonasked the Minister of Health what is the present deficiency of hospital beds in each region of England and Wales.
§ Mr. K. RobinsonAccording to the measures for provision of beds in relation to population used in the original Hospital Plan only the Sheffield region shows a current numerical deficiency. Less signi-cance is now attached to the bed as the unit for measuring hospital provision. The number of beds is falling gradually as hospital facilities are used more effectively: the major problem on which new capital provision is concentrated is obsolescence in quality, in kind, in location and in supporting facilities.