§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) if he will give the number of pay beds available in the National Health Service in the Staffordshire area health authority in each of the last five years;
(2) if he will give figures indicating the use made of available pay beds by private patients for each of the last five years in the Staffordshire area health authority.
§ Mr. MoyleThe information for each of the years since the Staffordshire area health authority came into existence is as follows:
Year Number of authorised Year pay-beds Average daily occupancy by private patients 1974 75 32.8 1975 65* 26.6 1976 65 21.5 1977 53† 21.0 1978 44‡ Not yet available * Authorisations reduced 1st July 1975 following under-utilisation review. † Authorisations reduced 20th May 1977 in accordance with section 3 of the Health Services Act 1976. ‡ Authorisations reduced 1st January 1978 as a result of the Health Services Board's first set of proposals (Cmnd. 6963).