§ Mr. Farrasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what was the number of hospital beds per 1,000 population in (a) the Trent region and (b) the remaining regional health authorities in England for the last five years.
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§ Mr. John PattenThe latest available information is given in the table. This does not include beds in hospitals managed by the boards of governors and special health authorities for the London postgraduate teaching hospitals.
NHS hospitals in England Regional health authority* Available beds per 1,000 population 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 Northern 8.2 8.1 8.1 8.0 7.9 Yorkshire 8.5 8.3 8.1 8.0 7.9 Trent 7.0 6.9 6.9 6.7 6.7 East Anglian 7.1 7.0 7.0 6.9 6.7 North West Thames 8.3 8.1 7.8 7.8 7.5 North East Thames 8.0 7.8 7.6 7.6 7.8 South East Thames 8.1 7.9 7.7 7.6 7.5 South West Thames 9.2 8.9 8.6 8.4 8.2 Wessex 7.1 7.0 6.9 6.7 6.7 Oxford 6.1 6.0 5.8 5.7 5.5 South Western 8.2 8.0 7.9 7.8 7.7 West Midlands 7.1 7.0 6.9 6.8 6.8 Mersey 9.2 8.9 8.7 8.6 8.4 North Western 7.7 7.6 7.6 7.6 7.6 * Because of NHS restructuring in 1982 figures for the four Thames regions are not strictly comparable over the whole period.