§ Mr. Cordleasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what representations he has received from the Bourne- mouth and East Dorset Hospital Management Committee concerning conditions in geriatric and other hospital facilities in Bournemouth and Christchurch; and what proposals he has for bringing about an improvement.
§ Mr. Alison:None. The Hospital Advisory Service has recently reported to my right hon. Friend on the geriatric services in this area and the Wessex Regional Hospital Board is at present considering the advice in that report.
§ Mr. Pavittasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is the number of hospitals with diagnostic facilities in the area of the North-West Metropolitan Regional Hospital Board and the number of those where general practitioners have open access to these facilities.
§ Mr. Alison:Sixty-three hospitals have pathology laboratories and 99 X-ray facilities, including the teaching hospitals. Of these 38 and 36 respectively offer open access to general practitioners, that is, at least one hospital in each general hospital group or teaching hospital area.
§ Mr. Kinnockasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is the optimum size of a site intended to accommodate a hospital of 600 to 800 beds.
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§ Mr. Alison:The optimum size of site will depend on its characteristics, the content of the hospital and the extent of sup- porting facilities but in general a 600-800 bed district general hospital could best be accommodated on 30-35 acres.
§ Mr. Goldingasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many hospital beds are now provided nationally and in North Staffordshire per 1,000 population.
§ Mr. Alison:The following is the information:
Hospital Beds per 1,000 population* England 9.282 North Staffordshire Hospital Management Committee area 7.812 *Number of beds allocated on 31st December, 1970: estimated population on 30th June, 1971.