HC Deb 22 July 1980 vol 989 cc215-6W
Mr. Hardy

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many hospital beds are available for psychiatric patients from the Rotherham area at the present time; and how many were available two years ago.

Sir George Young

There are at present 228 beds available for psychiatric patients from the Rotherham area made up as follows:

Swallownest hospital (elderly severely mentally infirm patients)—50.

Rotherham DGH—beds for assessment of elderly severely mentally infirm—20.

—Acute mental illness beds—60.

Middlewood hospital, Sheffield—98 (beds occupied by patients with Rotherham origins at 29 May 1980).

Two years ago, 50 beds were available at Swallownest hospital and an unspeci- fied number of beds were available at Middlewood hospital, Sheffield, for Rotherham patients. A survey undertaken early in 1978 by a Rotherham consultant psychiatrist showed 140 patients with Rotherham origins in Middlewood hospital.