§ Mr. Ralph Howellasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will give the figures for unoccupied hospital beds in 1982–83, and the number of occupied beds in 1982, 1983 and 1984 in (a) England and (b) each region.
§ Mr. John PattenThe required information is given in the table. Figures for 1984 are not yet available. As I explained to my hon. Friend in my reply on 4 December at c.174 aggregated bed occupancy is not a good indicator of efficient bed use.
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National Health Service Hospitals Regional health Authority Average daily number of occupied beds* Average daily number of available beds* not occupied* 1982 1983 1982 1983 Northern 19,243 19,405 5,437 5,323 Yorkshire 22,423 22,137 6,065 5,897 Trent 24,074 23,990 6,670 6,491 East Anglian 10,199 10,230 2,715 2,771 North West Thames 21,307 20,864 4,545 4,479 North East Thames 24,194 23,922 5,104 4,819 South East Thames 21,691 21,237 5,125 5,119 South West Thames 20,432 19,998 3,589 3,721 Wessex 14,702 14,500 3,845 3,809 Oxford 10,374 10,219 2,739 2,598 South Western 19,155 18,815 4,705 4,644 West Midlands 28,089 27,687 7,139 6,857 Mesey 16,847 16,470 3,673 3,378 North Western 24,579 24,449 6,099 5,935 Special Health Authorities and Boards of Governors 2,524 2,507 821 820 England 279,833 276,429 68,271 66,662 * Bed occupancy figures are based on a midnight count and do not therefore reflect the use of beds by patients who do not stay overnight.