§ Ms. HarmanTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list by national health service region(a) for 1980 and (b) for the most recent year, the hospitals in England which had consultant obstetric or general practitioner maternity beds giving the numbers of beds of each type in each hospital.
§ Mrs. Virginia Bottomley[holding answer 22 February 1991]: The information requested has been placed in the Library. Due to changes in the type of information collected, the data for the years concerned are not strictly comparable. The data for 1980 identify the beds available in the type of unit concerned. Since 1987, the bed type has been classified according to clinical responsibility—by consultant, general practitioner or for joint use. In addition, many of the individual sites were not open during one or other of the years in question. While there has been an overall reduction in the number of beds over the period, this has been accompanied by a significant reduction in the average length of stay of approximately 30 per cent.