HC Deb 01 February 1990 vol 166 cc335-6W
Mr. John D. Taylor

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many of the different categories of hospital beds there are at present; and how many there were for the equivalent categories 10 years ago.

Mr. Needham

The earliest year for which this information is available is 1980.

Average daily number of available beds
Category 1980 1988–89
All specialties 17,064 14,686
Acute 7,168 6,017
Obstetrics 732 702
Geriatric medicine 2,528 2,564
Mental illness 4,779 3,900
Mental handicap 1,533 1,345
General practitioner beds 324 158