HC Deb 27 October 1975 vol 898 c357W
Dr. Glyn

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what proportion of medicine produced in the United Kingdom is carried outside the NHS.

Dr. Owen

Although we have information about the use made of NHS facilities and services, we do not have a measure of the volume of medicine practised, as such, either within the NHS or outside it.

Outside the NHS, medicine is practised in patients' own homes, in surgeries, consulting-rooms, private hospitals and nursing homes. In England and Wales, the average daily number of available NHS hospital beds in 1974 was 420,942, and at the end of 1974 there were 27,909 beds in registered private hospitals and nursing homes.

If the hon. Member cares to write to me for other specific information, I should be glad to send him what information we have available.

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