§ Mr. Gareth Wardellasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will publish in the Official Report for each health authority in England (a) the total number of ambulances in service, (b) the number of ambulances that meets the Department of Health and Social Security guidance of 140,000 miles and seven years and (c) the number of ambulances that do not meet the Department of Health and Social Security guidance of 140,000 miles and seven years.
§ Mr. NewtonThe table shows, for each National Health Service regional health authority, the numbers of all types of ambulance vehicles in use in the last year for which these figures are available. I regret that information is not collected centrally on the length in service or mileage completed by ambulances used by health authorities in England.
NHS Ambulance Services: Ambulance vehicles (all types) Regional Health Authority 1984–85 Northern 470 Yorkshire 636 Trent 648 East Anglian 219 North West Thames 193 North East Thames 148 South East Thames 300 South West Thames (including London Ambulance Service) 1,184 Wessex 297 Oxford 284 South Western 480 West Midlands 713 Mersey 351 North Western 568
Average daily number of available beds in National Health Service hospitals in England (1985) Region Acute1 Geriatric Mental2 illness Mental handicap Maternity1 All specialties Northern 9,698 3,940 5,695 2,990 1,208 23,773 Yorkshire 11,168 4,960 6,199 2,947 1,374 26,793 Trent 11,665 5,237 6,700 3,936 1,617 29,391 East Anglian 5,204 2,467 2,702 1,450 670 12,534 North West Thames 9,052 3,417 6,542 3,627 1,092 23,816 North East Thames 12,262 4,636 6,053 2,313 1,446 26,854 South East Thames 10,510 3,985 5,886 2,546 1,224 24,297 South West Thames 7,131 2,907 6,196 5,160 785 22,210 Wessex 7,409 3,468 3,688 2,074 980 17,654 Oxford 5,863 1,866 2,282 1,641 793 12,555 South Western 8,672 3,782 4,685 3,644 1,020 21,932 West Midlands 13,967 6,176 7,101 3,891 1,825 33,108 Mersey 7,092 3,120 5,342 2,027 840 18,464 North Western 12,472 5,230 6,337 3,307 1,589 29,021 Special Health Authorities 2,303 130 459 8 187 3,086 Total4 134,468 55,321 75,867 41,561 16,650 325,488 1"Acute" is defined as all specialties except geriatrics, younger disabled, GP maternity, obstetrics, mental handicap and mental illness. 2Includes all mental illness specialties. 3Includes GP maternity and obstetrics. 4Regional figures may not sum to national totals due to rounding.