§ Mr. George Rodgersasked the Secretary of State for Social Services when the statement for 1976 required under 762W Section 17(2) of the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act 1970 will be available.
§ Mr. Alfred MorrisThe statement was published (House of Commons Paper 491) today. It shows a further decrease in the number of patients under 65 resident in hospital accommodation not conforming to the Act. In England, the decrease is from 3,476 in 1975 to 2,640 in 1976. Of these, only 771 were under age 55. Since these figures were first collected in 1971 there has been a fall of nearly 40 per cent. in the numbers inappropriately accommodated. While this is greatly to be welcomed, there is still room for improvement, and this is one of the main reasons why I am continuing to accord priority to increasing the amount of special accommodation for those under 65 who require care in hospital.