§ Mrs. Renée Shortasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will list the steps that have been taken by him to ensure that no more breaches of the regulations governing the authorisation of pay beds will occur in hospitals under his control.
§ Sir K. JosephThe matter has been brought to the attention of secretaries of hospital boards. The Department's auditors have been reminded to review the existence of authorisation for the use of facilities for private in-patients: checks are also made on the statistical information from hospital authorities concerning the number of beds being used for private patients.
§ Mrs. Renée Shortasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if, in view of his statement that the general problem of National Health Service waiting lists requires urgent consideration, he will immediately suspend the use of beds for private patients.
§ Sir K. JosephNo. As indicated in paragraph 22 of Cmnd. 5270 the existence of pay beds can have had at the very most only a marginal effect on National Health Service waiting lists. The problem of waiting lists is essentially due to other causes and I shall be issuing guidance to hospital authorities on action to be taken to tackle them.