HC Deb 20 December 1982 vol 34 cc364-5W
Mr. Meacher

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will give comparable figures on costs, numbers of patients carried, and classification of patients carried, by the hospital car service during 1979 to 1982 in the counties of Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Oxon, Hampshire, Surrey, East Sussex, West Sussex, Kent, and the Isle of Wight, respectively.

Mr. Geoffrey Finsberg

The following table gives the figures for 1979–80 and 1980–81. Those for 1981–82 are not yet available. Information on the classification of patients carried is not held centrally.

1979–1980 † 1980–1981*
Ambulance Service Numbers of patients carried Cost per patient £ Cost per mile £ Numbers of patients carried Cost per patient £ Cost per mile £
East Sussex 193,739 1.48 0.16 164,098 1.79 0.18
West Sussex 147,733 1.74 0.16 161,350 1.87 0.18
Kent 27,822 5.02 0.18 39,070 4.12 0.19
Isle of Wight 32,554 0.82 0.11 10,762 1.40 0.17
* Health Service Costing Returns, DHSS.
† National Ambulance Service, Comparisons—prepared by the Area Treasurer's Department, North Yorkshire, AHA.