§ Dr. Owenasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is the latest estimate of the proportion of beds occupied by the over-65s in (a) general medical wards, (b) orthopaedic wards and (c) psychiatric wards.
§ Mr. John PattenInformation is not available centrally in the exact form requested. The available information is given in the table:
Speciality Percentage of occupied beds in National Health Hospitals in England used by patients aged 65 and over in 1981 General Medicine *56.3 Traumatic and Orthopaedic *48.5 Mental illness and mental handicap †39.8 Notes: * estimated average during the year 1981. † based on the number of resident patients on 31 December 1981.