§ Ms HarmanTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) if he will make a statement on the provision of paediatric intensive care beds per head in(a) Yorkshire and (b) England; [31989]
(2) what is the number of paediatric intensive care beds per capita in each of the regional health authorities in England. [31899]
§ Mr. HoramA recent survey of dedicated general and specialist paediatric intensive care beds open in England, by regional health authority, indicates current bed distribution relative to resident child populations as shown 589W in the table. This does not take account of intensive care for children provided in adult intensive care units or of care provided outside the region in question. A report by the chief executive of the national health service executive on paediatric intensive care was published last month, copies of which are available in the Library. The report describes plans to develop this service further, and to provide additional beds.
Region Beds open: April 1996 Population (0 to 16 years)1 Bed per capita ratio Northern and Yorkshire 28 1,463,395 1:52,264 Anglia and Oxford 8 1,163,777 1:145,472 North Thames 43 1,474,719 1:34,296 South Thames 29 1,404,969 1:48,447 South and West 13 1,353,775 1:104,136 North West 37 1,490,184 1:40,275 Trent 21 1,023,528 1:48,739 West Midlands 17 1,181,847 1:69,520 England total 196 10,556,194 1:53,858 1SourceOffice for National Statistics (1994 estimate)