§ Dr. David OwenTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) if he will list for each year since 1979 the average length of in-patient stay in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland;
(2) what was the average length of stay in acute hospitals for each year since 1979 in England, Wales and Scotland.
§ Mrs. Currie[pursuant to her reply, 4 March 1988, c. 747]: I regret that, although a table was mentioned in my previous reply, it had been omitted in error. The table is as follows:
Average length of stay, by sector, National Health Service hospitals in England Year Acute Geriatric Maternity 1979 9.3 77.5 6.0 1980 8.8 70.1 5.7 1981 8.6 66.1 5.5 1982 8.6 62.3 5.3 1983 8.1 57.1 5.1 1984 7.8 52.6 4.8 1985 7.6 47.8 4.6 1986 7.3 44.8 4.4