§ Dr. OwenTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Services what is the annual cost to the National Health Service of all long-stay patients, respectively, in geriatric hospitals, hospitals for the mentally handicapped and mentally ill, and psychiatric hospitals.
§ Mrs. Currie[holding answer 3 March 1988]: Costing returns submitted by health authorities include returns for the following hospital types, geriatric, mental handicap, and mental illness, but do not separately identify expenditure dependent on length of stay.
In 1986–87, total current expenditure in England on inpatients in these hospitals was as follows:
£ Geriatric hospitals 275,889,208 Mental handicap hospitals 1481,182,993 Mental illness hospitals 2795,317,915 1 Includes expenditure on community units for the mentally handicapped. 2 Excludes expenditure on psychiatric units within general hospitals etc. which is not separately identifiable centrally.