§ Miss Wrightasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is the average cost of maintaining geriatric, but not otherwise ill, patients, in(a) acute hospitals,(b) geriatric hospitals and(c) residential homes for the elderly.
§ Sir George YoungProvisional figures for the year ended 31 March 1978 indicate that the average daily cost of maintaining a patient in an acute hospital was £38.14—based on all ages and specialties—and that in a geriatric hospital £15.35. Separate figures for geriatric provision in other types of hospital are not available. The average daily cost of maintaining a resident in a home for the elderly in the same year was £6.15.
All these figures exclude capital costs and certain administrative costs not separately identified, and take no account of income from charges.