§ Mr. Gordon Wilsonasked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make a statement on the availability of hospital beds for geriatric and psycho-geriatric patients in Scotland; and what action he is taking to increase the provision for such patients in order that acute beds are not used instead.
§ Mr. FairgrieveThe average number of staffed beds available for geriatric patients in Scotland during the year ended 31 March 1979 was 10,299.
As part of the major Health Service building programme it is planned to provide approximately 450 additional geriatric beds as well as some 1,000 geriatric beds to replace existing facilities. In addition, health boards finance from their ordinary capital allocations smaller schemes to provide new and replacement accommodation. These additional beds being provided should substantially eliminate the need to use acute beds for geriatric care.
Separate figures for psycho-geriatric beds are not available; these are included in the total psychiatric bed complement. There is no planning target for the provision of psycho-geriatric beds.