HC Deb 19 July 1991 vol 195 cc313-4W
Mr. Bellotti

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what are the costs per person per week for long-stay patients in NHS mental hospitals.

Mr. Dorrell

The information requested is not available centrally. Data on expenditure and activity are collected by specialty, and costs for long stay and short stay patients are not separately identified in the returns submitted by health authorities. The average cost of a bed occupied by an in-patient in a psychiatric specialty in 1989–90, the last year for which figures are available, is estimated at about £450 per week.

Mr. Bellotti

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what are the costs per person per week for residents in local authority mental after-care homes.

Mr. Dorrell

The 1990–91 estimates published by the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy give the gross average cost per place filled in local authority residential hostels for mentally ill people in England and Wales, excluding capital charges, as £213 per resident per week.