HC Deb 06 December 1988 vol 143 cc132-3W
Mr. Dobson

To ask the Secretary of State for Health when it was decided to stop collecting available bed figures broken down by specialty.

Mrs. Currie

This decision was announced in April 1984 by health circular HC(84)10, which set out the agreement between Ministers and regional chairmen on the implementation of the first report of the steering group on Health Services information (Körner).

Mr. Dobson

To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) when the available bed figures for 1987 will be published;

(2) if he will make it his practice in future to publish available bed figures within six months of their collection.

Mrs. Currie

We publish information about beds in the National Health Service as soon as thorough validation on returns from all authorities has been completed. The available figures for 1987–88 will be published during January.

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