§ Rev. Martin SmythTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many(a) national health service hospital beds and (b) national health service private beds there were in each board area in each year since 1979.
§ Mr. Hanley[holding answer 30 April 1993]: Information detailing the number of available beds in each health and social services board since 1979 is shown in the table. Information on the number of health service private beds is not collected centrally.
Eastern Northern Southern Western 1979 8,728 2,454 2,662 3,280 1980 8,769 2,473 2,607 3,212 1981 8,801 2,485 2,597 3,140 1982 8,759 2,471 2,599 3,132 1983 8,751 2,519 2,606 3,100 1984 8,583 2,477 2,606 3,049 1985 8,441 2,508 2,608 3,038 1986 7,996 2,457 2,556 2,953 1987 7,728 2,373 2,432 2,877 1988–89 7,326 2,279 2,366 2,715 1989–90 7,058 2,149 2,294 2,653 1990–91 6,669 2,086 2,188 2,545 1991–92 6,207 1,984 2,095 2,314 Over the same period, the number of patients treated has increased from: 241,264 in 1979 to 278,960 in 1991–92.