§ Dr. Evan HarrisTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what discussions he has held with(a) senior health service officials, (b) senior clinicians and (c) patient groups on the possibility of bed shortages in hospitals (i) in London and (ii) elsewhere in the United Kingdom this winter. [13114]
§ Mr. Hutton[holding answer 7 November 2001]: apologise to the hon. Member for the delay in responding to this question. I refer the hon. Member to the reply that my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State gave my hon. Friend the Member for Blackpool, North and Fleetwood (Mrs. Humble) on 5 March 2002,Official Report, column 192W.
Ministers hold regular discussions with key groups of health service officials, clinicians and patient groups. Health service circular 2001/014/local authority circular (2001)17 published in July 2001 gave guidance to the national health service in England on planning capacity. Under this guidance all health authorities established local capacity planning groups to plan capacity for winter 2001–02. As a result the NHS went into winter with 1,225 more general and acute and 198 critical care beds than the same time in 2000–01. The results of the bed census which was carried out at the end of November 2001 were published in "NHS Emergency Pressures—Making Progress" which was placed in the Library in December 2001.
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