§ Mr. John Evansasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what are the number of NHS hospital beds available, 429W per head of the population, in each of the regional health authorities; and what were the figures for 1970, 1965, 1960, 1955 and 1950, respectively.
§ Dr. OwenFollowing are the figures for 1973, being the latest year available,
AVERAGE DAILY NUMBER OF AVAILABLE NATIONAL HEALTH SERVICE BEDS PER 1,000 POPULATION BY REGIONAL HOSPITAL BOARD AREA Year Region 1970 1965 1960 1955† Newcastle … … … … 9.06 9.12 9.13 9.15 Leeds … … … … 9.96 10.37 10.90 11.22 Sheffield … … … … 7.36 7.74 8.15 8.44 East Anglia … … … … 8.04 8.66 9.44 9.63 North West Metropolitan … 9.61 9.73 11.59 12.01 North East Metropolitan … 9.07 9.66 South East Metropolitan … … 9.17 9.86 South West Metropolitan‡ … 12.99 14.13 Oxford … … … … 7.69 8.38 9.37 9.87 South Western … … … 10.29 10.94 11.86 12.39 Wales … … … … 9.55 10.09 10.32 10.32 Birmingham … … … 8.15 8.70 9.31 9.61 Manchester … … … 8.74 9.17 9.80 10.03 Liverpool … … … … 9.86 10.81 11.25 11.43 Wessex* … … … … 8.54 9.23 10.17 — England and Wales … … 9.18 9.73 10.37 10.73 * Wessex Regional Hospital Board formed in 1959. † Breakdown of provincial teaching available beds estimated. ‡ Figure comparatively high because of a concentration of psychiatric hospitals serving London which are located in Surrey.