§ Mr. CoxTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what has been the percentage change in casualty admissions in
42Wquarterly financial monitoring. In the reply I gave to the right hon. Member for Derby, South (Mrs. Beckett) on 30 January 1995, column 523, costs on this new basis were estimated at £80 million in 1991–92, £100 million in 1992–93 and £125 million in 1993–94. Regional breakdowns—comparable to these new estimates—are now available for 1992–93, 1993–94 and 1994–95, provisional, and are shown in the second table. Estimates of number of settlements are not available.
(a) England and (b) London; and what increase in beds or other resources have been made available to accident and emergency departments in (i) England and (ii) London within the last year.
§ Mr. SackvilleInformation is not available in the form requested. There was an overall increase of 0.3 per cent. in the number of patients admitted to hospital under an accident and emergency consultant in England in 1993–94, while in the Thames regional health authorities admissions in the accident and emergency specialty fell by 3.2 per cent.
Information on accident and emergency beds is not available centrally. The number of hospital consultants in the specialty of accident and emergency medicine increased by 7.6 per cent. in England and by 9 per cent. in the Thames regions between 1992 and 1993, the latest figures available. In the same period, other hospital medical staff in the accident and emergency specialty increased by 5 per cent. in England by 4.4 per cent. in the Thames regions.