§ Mr. SpearingTo ask the Deputy Prime Minister, pursuant to his oral answer of 14 January concerning emergency capacity in the national health service,Official Report, column 130, if he will make a statement on the extent of this capacity indicating the basis on which the amount of such capacity is calculated, and the approximate costs of maintaining spare beds. [11439]
The Deputy Prime Minister: It is the responsibility of health authorities and national health service trusts to ensure that NHS emergency services can meet demand. In the last financial year, over 3.5 million patients received