§ Mr. D. E. Thomasasked the Secretary of State for Scotland how many hospital beds in each area health authority area in Scotland are reserved for fee-paying 524W private patients; and what proportion this represents of all hospital beds in each area.
§ Mr. William RossIn terms of the Health Services and Public Health Act 1968 it is not possible to designate particular beds as private beds, but only to designate the number of patients who may be treated privately in hospital.
Nine of the 15 Scottish health boards have private in-patient facilities and details of the numbers of private patients who may be admitted in each area are given below:
Health Board Maximum number of private patients Maximum number of private patients expressed as a proportion of total bed complement Argyll and Clyde 29 1:172 Ayrshire and Arran 19 1:145 Dumfries and Galloway 40 1:44 Forth Valley 11 1:356 Grampian 46 1:128 Greater Glasgow 110 1:149 Highland 12 1:214 Lothian 45 1:211 Tayside 57 1:110