§ Mr. David Mitchellasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what number of National Health Service hospital and institutional beds was unoccupied on 1st January 1978 owing to lack of resources and staff; how many were unoccupied for other reasons; and what were those reasons.
§ Mr. MoyleI regret that information in the form requested is not available centrally.
Beds in National Health Service hospitals may be temporarily unavailable for use for a variety of reasons, including staff shortages or illness, lack of resources, redecoration or alteration of 19W wards, and other local circumstances. The average daily number of available beds in National Health Service hospitals in England for all specialties during 1976—the latest year for which this information is available—was 383,100, of which an average of 310,800 beds—81 per cent.—were occupied daily. A major reason for the difference between bed availability and bed occupancy is the time interval which necessarily occurs between the vacation of a bed by one patient and the admission of another.