§ Mr. Ralph Howellasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many National Health Service beds for geriatrics are occupied; and what percentage this represents of the average daily occupied beds.
§ Mr. John PattenThe average daily number of occupied beds in the specialty of geriatric medicine in 1983 was 50,797. This represents 18 per cent. of all occupied beds in NHS hospitals in England. As I explained to my hon. Friend in my reply on 4 December at column174, aggregated bed occupancy is not a good indicator of efficient bed use.