§ Mr. Robert Taylorasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many private beds are in hospitals controlled by the Croydon Area Health Authority at the present time; how many of this total he intends to remove during the next 12 months; and if the proposed percentage reduction is in conformity with his proposals for neighbouring area health authorities.
§ Dr. OwenThere are at present 13 authorised pay beds in hospitals of the Croydon Area Health Authority. Schedule 2 of the Health Services Bill provides for a reduction of seven in this number within six months of Royal Assent. This number has been determined, as elsewhere, by reference to occupancy of pay beds by paying patients and the reasonable availability of alternative facilities in the private sector in the area of the Greater London Council. The same basis was used as for the other areas within the GLC area, namely, to reduce the number of pay beds to that number which, on the bed usage in 1972 or 1973—whichever was the higher—would result in a notional occupancy rate of 95 per cent.
The further withdrawal of pay beds after the six months' period covered by the Schedule 2 proposals will be a matter on which the Health Services Board will be required to make proposals in accordance with the provisions of the Bill.