§ Mr. Nigel EvansTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what was the number of patients being treated as out-patients and in-patients in(a) England and (b) the north-west in 1975 and 1991.
§ Mr. SackvilleThe information requested is given in the table.
In-patients1 Out-patients England 1975 4,975,750 30,947,482 1990–91 7,524,192 36,130,499 North western region 1975 453,481 2,737,230 1990–91 733,809 3,482,235 1 For 1975, the information refers to finished hospital stays (discharges and deaths). For 1990–91, the information refers to finished consultant episodes. A finished hospital stay is a discharge from a hospital—or a death in a hospital—or transfer to another hospital.A finished consultant episode is a completed period of care of a patient using a bed under the care of one consultant in a particular health authority, and will therefore tend to record a higher count. Finished consultant episodes includes a count of healthy live-born babies who were not counted as finished hospital stays.