§ Mr. Ralph Howellasked the Secretary of State for Social Services, pursuant to his reply to the hon. Member for Norfolk, North of 14 November 1983, Official Report, column 323, why there were 68,220 unoccupied hospital beds in England during 1982; and whether he has any figures for 1983.
§ Mr. Kenneth ClarkeThis figure represents just under one fifth of the total number of beds available. As I indicated in my previous reply to my hon. Friend, this figure is based on a midnight count and does not therefore reflect the use of beds by day patients who do not stay 621W overnight. A variety of valid reasons may lead to some beds being unoccupied such as the need to have spare capacity for emergencies; early discharges leaving a bed unoccupied until the next day; temporary shortages of other facilities or staff at the hospital; and the need to empty a ward or hospital in advance of maintenance or closure. Figures for 1983 are not yet available.
There are undoubtedly some authorities and hospitals which have a surplus of beds for some specialties and better management should identify those. The action we are currently taking to strengthen the management of the National Health Service is directed at improving the use of all its resources, but this cannot be measured by any single figure taken in isolation. The number of inpatient cases treated per available bed in the acute sector increased from 28.0 in 1978 to 31.1 in 1982.