§ 59. Mr. Crouchasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what are the principal reasons for the decline in the incidence of diseases of the chest requiring hospitalisation, reflected in the reductions in the average daily numbers of occupied beds allocated by National Health Service hospitals in England and Wales for the treatment of this disease, from 25,724 in 1955 to 9,563 in 1967.
§ Mr. SnowThe principal reasons are a substantial drop in the incidence of respiratory tuberculosis and a change in the method of treatment of tuberculosis patients which has greatly reduced their average length of stay in hospital.