§ Ms. HarmanTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list by national health service region(a) for 1980 and (b) for 1990–91 the hospitals in England which had consultant obstetric or general practitioner maternity beds, giving the number of beds of each type in each hospital.
§ Mr. Dorrell[holding answer 24 January 1992]: The information requested for 1990–91 has been placed in the Library. Figures for 1980 and 1989–90 were placed in the Library in reply to the question from the hon. Member for Peckham on 15 March 1991 at column 709. Due to changes in the type of information collected, the data for the years concerned are not strictly comparable. The data for 1980 identified 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 over 30 per cent.