§ Mr. Ralph HowellTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) if he will state the average daily number of beds occupied in the National Health Service in the United Kingdom in 1960, 1970, 1979, 1984 and 1988;
(2) if he will state the number of people on hospital waiting lists in England and the United Kingdom and the number of unoccupied beds for 1960, 1970, 1979, 1984 and 1988.
§ Mrs. CurrieThe information requested is given in the table for regional health authorities in England. Beds may be unoccupied for a variety of reasons, for example, because they are being held for emergency or maternity admissions or because of unexpectedly early discharges.
The steering group on Health Service information (Körner) recommended that bed occupancy statistics should not be used as indicators of efficient bed use. A more useful measure is throughput per available bed. In 1986 20.3 cases were treated per available bed compared with 15 in 1979 and only 8.8 in 1960.
Questions about the rest of the United Kingdom are for my right hon. and learned Friend the Secretary of State for Scotland and my right hon. Friends the Secretaries of State for Wales and for Northern Ireland.
Average daily occupied beds, unoccupied beds and in-patient waiting list, National Health Service hospitals England Year Average daily number of occupied beds4 Average daily number of available beds4 not occupied In-patient waiting list1 2 1960 388,007 60,336 442,995 31970 351,251 72,370 525,926 1979 293,272 68,398 752,422 1984 269,324 65,189 692,945 1986 254,597 61,117 673,107 1988 — — 678,777 1 As at 31 December for 1960 and 1970, as at 31 March for 1979 to 1988. 2 Figures for 1988 are on a comparable basis with previous statistics. 3 The count of occupied beds excluded beds reserved for psychiatric patients on short leave. 4 Bed occupancy figures are based on a midnight count and do not reflect the use of beds by patients who do not stay overnight.