HC Deb 22 October 1979 vol 972 cc88-9W
Mr. Loveridge

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will give an estimate of figures available to him of the proportion of cost for equivalent treatment in the cottage and community hospitals compared with the costs in larger hospitals.

Dr. Vaughan

Costs in National Health Service hospitals are calculated according to the type of hospital, based essentially on the specialties to which the beds are allocated—for example, acute, geriatric, maternity, mental illness, and so on. Although a hospital may locally be styled "cottage" or "community", neither of these terms is at present recognised in the standard hospital classification scheme, and I regret that separately identified costs are not available for such hospitals.