§ Mr. Leadbitterasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many private patients are in the hospitals of the Northern Regional Hospital Board at the latest available date; what hospital services, staff and amenities are generally made available; what charge for these is made by the hospital authority; and what is the total number of National Health Service patients on the waiting list requiring treatment.
§ Sir K. JosephThe hospitals in the region have authority to treat up to a maximum of 197 private in-patients at any one time. On average in 1972 there were 83 such patients to whom the full 281W range of National Health Service hospital services, staff and amenities were available.
The charges for hospital accommodation and services are determined nationally for different classes of hospital and I am sending the hon. Member a note of them.
At the end of 1972 there were 25,856 National Health Service patients awaiting hospital admission in the Newcastle Regional Hospital Board area.