§ Mr. Dobsonasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will make a statement on the decline from 42,077 in 1979 to 14,610 in 1981 in new outpatients treated under contractual arrangements outside the National Health Service.
§ Mr. Kenneth ClarkeThe reduction in numbers of new out-patients treated after 1979 was largely due to the cessation of contractual arrangements with the Providence Hospital in Mersey Region, which accounted for 30,336 new out-patients in 1979.