HC Deb 23 January 1980 vol 977 c257W
Mr. Charles Irving

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is the average annual cost of maintaining a patient in a local psychiatric hospital in England and Wales.

Sir George Young

The average total annual cost in England and Wales in 1978–79 per occupied bed in a mental illness hospital was approximately £5,680 and in a mental handicap hospital approximately £4,980.