§ Mr. Meacherasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what has been the average daily number of available beds in the National Health Service each year since 1960; and what was the percentage change each year.
§ Mr. WhitneyThe information requested is given in the table. It should be noted that the number of in-patient cases treated rose from 3,932 thousand in 1960 to 6,178 thousand in 1984 and the number of cases treated per available bed rose from 8.8 to 18.5 over this period.
NHS Hospitals in England Year Average daily number of available beds Percentage change on previous year 1960 448,343 -0.2 1961 442,343 -1.3 1962 440,316 -0.5 1963 439,176 -0.3 1964 438,404 -0.2 1965 437,408 -0.2 1966 434,846 -0.6 1967 434,378 -0.1 1968 432,140 -0.5 1969 428,737 -0.8 1970 423,621 -1.2 1971 419,612 -0.9 1972 412,664 -1.7 1973 403,526 -2.2 1974 396,235 -1.8 1975 387,632 -2.2 1976 383,132 -1.2 1977 375,926 -1.9 1978 369,235 -1.8 1979 361,670 -2.0 1980 355,978 -1.6 1981 351,669 -1.2 1982 348,104 -1.0 1983 343,091 -1.4 1984 334,513 -2.5