§ Lord Lairdasked Her Majesty's Government:
What is the number of beds available in the Health Service in Northern Ireland in all the medical specialities; and how that compares per head of the population with the rest of the United Kingdom. [HL2777]
§ Lord Williams of Mostyn:During 2001–02 on average there were 2,335.5 available hospital beds in the medical specialities within the Health Service in Northern Ireland.
In the same period there were on average 8,419.1 available hospital beds across all specialities available within the Health Service in Northern Ireland.
The medical specialities are defined within the Health Service in Northern Ireland as general medicine, gastroenterology, endocrinology, haematology (clinical), rehabilitation, palliative medicine, cardiology, dermatology, thoracic medicine, infectious diseases, genito-urinary medicine, nephrology, medical oncology, neurology, rheumatology, paediatrics, paediatric neurology and dental medicine.
Comparable figures for the number of beds in the medical specialities across the United Kingdom are not available.
The most recent figures available across the United Kingdom for all specialities show there were 5.1 available hospital beds per 1,000 population in Northern Ireland compared with 3.7, 5.0 and 6.8 in England, Wales and Scotland respectively.