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Mr. Bowis: The average length of stay in the national health service in England in the psychiatric specialties was 95 days in 1992 93. Information is not available centrally on cases treated in beds specifically designated as private.
Mrs. Beckett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many psychiatric beds there were in NHS hospitals in each of the last 10 years.
Mr. Bowis: This information is in the Department of Health statistical bulletins, "NHS Hospital Activity Statistics: England 1983 to 1993 94" and "NHS Hospital Activity Statistics: England 1982 to 1992 93", copies of which are available in the Library.
Prescription Charges
Mrs. Beckett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans she has to raise prescription charges.
Mr. Malone: I refer the right hon. Member to the reply I gave my hon. Friend the Member for West Derbyshire (Mr. McLoughlin) on 16 December 1994, Official Report, column 1144.
Mrs. Beckett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what percentage of prescriptions costs the NHS less than (a) £5.25, (b) £5 and (c) £4.75.
Mr. Malone: The latest information is shown in the table.
Column 255
Percentage of total prescription items dispensed by
community
pharmacists, appliance contractors and dispensing doctors,
and
prescription items personally administered by prescribing
doctors,
in England in 1993 which had a total cost of less than
£5.25,
£5.00 and £4.75.
Total cost<1> per |Percentage of total
prescription item |prescription
|items<2> per cent.
------------------------------------------------------------
under £5.25 |57
under £5.00 |55
under £4.75 |54
<1> Total cost = the net ingredient cost of drugs and
appliances, less discount, plus dispensing fees, container
cost, oncost allowance, oxygen payments and value added
tax.
<2> Total prescriptions items includes items dispensed by
community pharmacists, appliance contractors and dispensing
doctors in England on prescriptions written by general
medical practitioners, hospital doctors, dentists and armed
services doctors and dentists in England, Scotland, Wales,
Northern Ireland and the Isle of Man. Items dispensed in
hospitals are not included.
Market Testing
Mrs. Beckett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many functions of the NHS executive and Department of Health, London, have been market tested; how many have already been privatised; and how many will be privatised.
Mr. Sackville: The Department of Health and its agencies have market tested 30 activities under the Government's "Competing for Quality" programme. There have been no privatisations to date. Following a review of the NHS Estates agency, it is the intention now to conduct an enabling study beginning April 1996 with a view to completing privatisation of that part of its work that does not need to be kept in the public sector by the end of that financial year.
Mrs. Beckett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what NHS services have been market tested since April 1991.
Mr. Sackville: The range of services market tested up to 31 March 1993, the latest date for which information is available, or were planned to be market tested in 1993 94 is shown in the table under main service headings.
Service |Service |Service
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Administration,
Information
and Financial
Personnel Services |Advertising and |Banking
| recruitment
Legal |Consultancy |Insurance
Clerical and |Management |Payroll
secretarial | services
Agency staffing |Computer services |Audit
Education and |Micro-filming |Accounts and
training | bookkeeping
Press and public |Printing and
relations | stationery
Estates, Building
and Engineering
Estates management |Building and works |Engineering
| maintenance
Energy Management |Flooring |Fire Systems
Grounds and garden |Glazing |Gas Supply
Car parks |Painting |Electrical
Supplies |Design |Water and sewerage
|Equipment systems |Waste disposal
| maintenance
Hotel and
Non-Clinical
Support Services
Hotel services |Catering |Creche
Facilities |Domestic services |Leisure services
management
Environmental |Laundry and linen |Photography
Health management
Ward housekeeping |Portering |Funeral services
Switchboard/Reception |Transport |Pest control
|Security |Courier services
Clinical and Clinical
Support
Anaesthetics |Bio-Engineering
Chiropody |Clinical coding |CSSD*
Continuing Care |Haematology |HSDU*
services (elderly)
Infection control |IVF Services* |Lithotripsy
Medical physics |Medical photography |Mobility provision
Magnetic Resonance |Nuclear medicine |Opthalmology
Imaging
Occupational health |Occupational therapy |Orthoptics
Oxygen Therapy |Patient appliances |Pharmacy
Units
Laboratory services |Speech therapy |Incontinence services
Physiotherapy |Home renal dialysis |Radiology
Termination of
pregnancy
1. There is no standard definition of services or list of services within the NHS and
those listed above relate to health authority provider units' interpretation.
2. The services listed are those recorded from either health authority and NHS trust
returns (already tested) or annual reports (plans to test).
3. Service headings such as "Hotel Services" and "Facilities Management" include a wide
and varying range of individual services e.g. catering, portering, security car
parking. Again there is no set pattern of which services make up hotel services etc.,
but relates to individual provider units' interpretation.
4. * CSSD = central sterile supply department, HSDU = hospital sterilizing and
disinfecting unit, IVF = in-vitro fertilisation.
GP Fundholders
Mrs. Beckett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is the ratio between the administrative cost borne by family health services authorities in relation to non- fundholding practices and fundholding practices; and what administrative duties are performed by the FHSAs for non-fundholding practices which are not performed for fundholding practices.
Mr. Malone: Family health services authority administrative costs are not disaggregated between non-fundholding and fundholding practices. In relation to the provision of general medical services, FHSAs perform the same administrative duties for all general practitioners, non-fundholders and fundholders alike.
District health authorities perform fewer duties for fundholding practices, because those practices purchase for themselves some health services hitherto purchased entirely by DHAs for all GPs.
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Health Service Demand
Mrs. Beckett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what projections her Department has for the demand for health services, as a percentage of gross net product, by the year 2000.
Mr. Sackville: The Department is not aware of any well-founded and comprehensive projections.
NHS Expenditure
Mrs. Beckett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what was the underspend on the NHS in each year from 1989 to 1994; and what is the projected underspend for 1994 95.
Mr. Sackville: During this period, the only year in which Government spending on the national health service in England was less than originally planned was 1993 94. In that year, expenditure of £28,965 million, was £69 million or 0.2 per cent. below the original plan. We do not anticipate that spending will be less than planned provision for the NHS in 1994 95.
Smoking-related Illnesses
Mrs. Beckett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what was the cost to the NHS of smoking-related illnesses in each of the last five years.
Mr. Sackville: Treatment costs to the national health service are not available on a year-by-year basis. The Health Education Authority's 1993 report, "The Smoking Epidemic--A prescription for Change' , provides the most recent estimate. Copies are available in the Library.
Burns
Mrs. Beckett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what was the cost to the NHS for treating burns in each of the last five years.
Mr. Sackville: This information is not available in the form and for the years requested.
Mrs. Beckett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what percentage of burns are caused by smoking.
Mr. Sackville: This information is not available centrally.
Alcohol-related Illnesses
Mrs. Beckett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what was the cost to the NHS of treating alcohol-related illnesses in each of the last five years.
Mr. Sackville: This information is not available centrally. However, "Health Update 3," published by the Health Education Authority in 1993, copies of which are available in the Library, estimated the costs to the national health service of alcohol misuse at £149.35 million at 1990 prices.
Alcohol-related Accidents
Mrs. Beckett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many patients were treated by the NHS, in each of the last five years, for injuries caused by road traffic accidents caused by alcohol.
Column 258
Mr. Sackville: This information is not available from national health service records. Estimates of casualties as a result of accidents involving illegal alcohol levels is contained in table 1m of "Road Accidents Great Britain 1993" copies of which are available in the Library.
Drug Prescriptions
Mrs. Beckett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will give any figures she has on the potential annual savings to the national health service on the general practitioner drug budget if 50, 60, 70 and 80 per cent. of drugs were prescribed generically.
Mr. Malone: A total of 51 per cent. of all items prescribed by general practitioners are already prescribed in their generic form. No reliable estimate can be made of the savings which higher levels of generic prescribing might realise as savings depend on the differentials between the prices of branded and generic products which vary from item to item.
Calman Report
Mrs. Beckett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what progress has been made on implementing the recommendations of the Calman report.
Mr. Malone: I refer the right hon. Member to the reply I gave the hon. Member for Bristol, South (Ms Primarolo) on 27 October 1994, Official Report, column 821. Since then, further substantial progress has been made with the medical profession through several working groups. The report of the unified training grade working party will be issued for consultation on 17 January. The reports of the working groups on the implications of the Calman report on general practice, overseas doctors and academic and research medicine will be issued for consultation soon, together with details of our proposals for the necessary legislative changes. The first meeting of the new advisory group on medical education, training and staffing was held on 7 December.
NHS Executive
Mrs. Beckett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many staff were relocated from London to NHS executive headquarters in Leeds in the past three years; and what was the total cost of relocation expenses paid.
Mr. Sackville: A total of 482 staff in the national health service executive and 40 in the NHS Estates agency relocated to Leeds on permanent transfer terms. £11.76 million was paid in relocation expenses.
Mrs. Beckett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many of the 200 staff to be made redundant at the NHSE headquarters in Leeds were relocated to Leeds in the previous three years; and what are the estimate severance and redundancy payments to these staff.
Mr. Sackville: It is the intention to reduce staff in the national health service executive by around 200 by 1 April 1997. We hope to avoid any compulsory redundancies through early retirement and natural wastage. I refer the right hon. Member to the reply I gave the hon. Member for Don Valley (Mr. Redmond) on 29 November 1994, Official Report, column 586 .
Column 259
NHS Targets
Mrs. Beckett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what targets she has set in the last three years which have not been achieved.
Mr. Sackville: Reports on progress against the Secretary of State's priorities and key challenges are published yearly in the Department of Health and in the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys's departmental report. Reports on 1992 93 are contained in Cm 2212 published in February 1993; reports on 1993 94 are contained in Cm 2512 published in March 1994; and reports on 1994 95 will be contained in the departmental report to be published around March. Progress against objectives made by the Department's agencies is set out in the agencies' own annual reports.
Reports on the targets in the patients charter were contained in the national health service performance tables published on 29 June 1994. There will be a new set this summer. Information on NHS performance is also contained in the NHS annual reports for 1992 93 and 1993 94.
A report on progress since the White Paper, "The Health of the Nation", Cm 1986, was published and issued in November 1993. A further report will be published in due course. The published documents are available in the Library.
Corporate Affairs Intelligence Unit
Mrs. Beckett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what is the number of staff in whole-time equivalents working for the corporate affairs intelligence unit for each of the last four years and the projected number for the next two years;
(2) what was the hospitality budget for the corporate affairs intelligence unit for each of the last four years and the projected budget for the next two years;
(3) what was the budget for the corporate affairs intelligence unit in each of the last four years; and what is the projected budget for the next two years.
Mr. Sackville: On 1 January 1995 there was a total of 46 staff in the unit. In the current financial year, the unit has a manpower budget of just over £1 million and a hospitality budget of £1,200 to cover refreshments at meetings attended by external participants. Both budget and staffing have remained broadly the same since the unit was formed in September 1991. Estimates for 1995 96 are in the course of preparation.
Dental Health
Mrs. Beckett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what information areas she has on the extent to which dental health varies according to geographical causes or socio-economic groups; and how the variance has changed in each of the last five years.
Mr. Malone: Information about dental health is contained in surveys carried out every five years by the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys and every four years by the British Association for the Study of Community Dentistry. Copies of the surveys are available in the Library.
Column 260
Patients Charter
Mrs. Beckett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is the projected cost of (a) the national launch, (b) the national advertising campaign and (c) copies of the charter for the planned expanded patients charter launch in January.
Mr. Malone: The estimated costs for the national launch of the patients charter is £140,000; for the national advertising campaign £160,000; and for the production of copies of the new patients charter, including a reserve stock for fulfilment of future requests £210,000.
Mrs. Beckett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what percentage of trust hospitals failed to see patients within five minutes of attendance at casualty in the last year for which figures are available;
(2) what percentage of patients were not seen immediately and their treatment need assessed in each year since April 1991.
Mr. Malone: This information is not available in the form requested as data were not collected before the patients charter was introduced in April 1992.
The percentage of patients not assessed immediately in accident and emergency departments fell from 26 per cent. in the quarter ended 31 March 1993 to 13 per cent. in the quarter ended 31 March 1994 and, in the quarter ended 30 September 1994, the last date for which information is available, stands at 10 per cent.
Mrs. Beckett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many staff are employed by the national health service; and what estimate she has made of the cost of them receiving the patients charter.
Mr. Malone: There are just under 1 million directly employed national health service staff. In addition, there are a number of agency and contracted staff working for the NHS, making an estimated total of 1.2 million staff. The estimated cost of distributing the patients charter to them is £158,000.
Mrs. Beckett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health on what previous occasions all members of staff of the NHS have received copies of the patients charter; and what was the cost on each occasion.
Mr. Malone: The original patients charter was not distributed to all national health service staff.
Junior Doctors
Mrs. Beckett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what guidance she has on the minimum period of sleep for junior doctors each day and the minimum for each week.
Mr. Malone: There is no guidance on the daily or weekly minimum periods of sleep for junior doctors.
NHS Charges
Mrs. Beckett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what representation her Department has received regarding charges for national health service care.
Mr. Sackville: We have received numerous representations over the years. The national health service has no power to charge unless there is a specific statutory power to charge for a specific service.
Column 261
Prostatic Cancer
Mrs. Beckett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many deaths were due to, and new cases were diagnosed of, prostatic cancer in each of the last five years.
Mr. Sackville: The information is shown in the table.
Deaths and registrations of newly diagnosed cases of prostate cancer (ICD 185) in England and Wales. 1989 is the latest year for which registration statistics are available.
|Registrations of
|Deaths |new cases
--------------------------------------------------------------------
1985 |6,628 |9,513
1986 |6,910 |10,180
1987 |7,166 |10,837
1988 |7,458 |12,496
1989 |7,861 |12,518
1990 |8,098 |-
1991 |8,570 |-
1992 |8,735 |-
<1>International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision.
Mrs. Beckett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what amount was spent on screening for prostatic cancer in each of the last five years.
Mr. Sackville: This information is not available centrally.
Amenity Beds
Mrs. Beckett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what evidence her Department has on the increase in revenue collected from use of amenity beds in trust hospitals.
Mr. Sackville: None. The amount of income raised from amenity beds is a matter for trusts. Income raised from the use of amenity beds is used to improve services for national health service patients.
Children's Wards
Mrs. Beckett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many children's wards were closed in each of the last 10 years; and in which hospitals.
Mr. Sackville: This information is not available centrally. It is for local health authorities to ensure that an appropriate level of service is provided for children in their district.
Column 262
NHS Dentists
Mrs. Beckett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what was the total number of national health service dentists in 1990 91, 1991 92 and 1992 93.
Mr. Malone: The available information is in the tables.
Table 1: Hospital and community health
service dental staff
England-as at 30 September each year (
whole-time equivalent)
|Number of
|dental staff
---------------------------------------
1990 |2,256
1991 |2,166
1992 |2,191
1993 |2,218
Note:
These figures exclude hospital
practitioners and clinical assistants
who also work as general dental
practitioners.
Table 2: General dental
services, number of dentists
<1> <2>
England-as at 30 September
|Number of
|dentists
------------------------------
1990 |15,480
1991 |15,451
1992 |15,411
1993 |15,773
Source:
Dental Practice Board.
Notes:
<1> Includes principals,
assistants and vocational
trainees.
<2> Some dentists may have
contracts with more than one
family health service
authority.
These dentists have been
counted only once.
Mrs. Beckett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many patients were registered with national health service dentists in each year since 1990 91 by family health service authorities or smallest available area per head of population;
(2) how many patients were registered for NHS dental care in 1990 91, 1991 92 and 1992 93.
Mr. Malone: Information on registration with dental practitioners for 1990 91 will be placed in the Library. Information for subsequent years is in the Dental Practice Board publication, "Registrations: GDS Quarterly Statistics", copies of which are available in the Library.
Mrs. Beckett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many NHS dental treatments took place in each year since 1990 91 in each family health service authority or smallest available area per head of population.
Mr. Malone: The information is shown in the table.
Column 261
Table: General Dental Services, number of courses of treatment<1> per head of population by family health services authority for the
financial years 1990-91 to 1993-94
|1990-91 number of |1991-92 number of |1992-93 number of |1993-94 number of
|courses per head of|courses per head of|courses per head of|courses per head of
Family health |population |population |population |population
services authority
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
England |0.61 |0.65 |0.67 |0.66
Cleveland |0.60 |0.66 |0.69 |0.72
Cumbria |0.65 |0.71 |0.72 |0.68
Durham |0.50 |0.55 |0.57 |0.58
Northumberland |0.52 |0.58 |0.62 |0.62
Gateshead |0.49 |0.56 |0.60 |0.63
Newcastle upon Tyne |0.55 |0.58 |0.60 |0.60
North Tyneside |0.58 |0.63 |0.68 |0.70
South Tyneside |0.44 |0.51 |0.54 |0.57
Sunderland |0.45 |0.51 |0.56 |0.58
Humberside |0.57 |0.62 |0.64 |0.64
North Yorkshire |0.69 |0.76 |0.77 |0.76
Bradford |0.64 |0.70 |0.73 |0.74
Calderdale |0.63 |0.75 |0.77 |0.77
Kirklees |0.60 |0.64 |0.69 |0.69
Leeds |0.70 |0.75 |0.77 |0.76
Wakefield |0.53 |0.58 |0.68 |0.72
Derbyshire |0.57 |0.61 |0.63 |0.63
Leicestershire |0.64 |0.69 |0.70 |0.71
Lincolnshire |0.62 |0.69 |0.70 |0.72
Nottinghamshire |0.62 |0.68 |0.72 |0.73
Barnsley |0.48 |0.51 |0.56 |0.58
Doncaster |0.55 |0.60 |0.66 |0.69
Rotherham |0.47 |0.52 |0.56 |0.57
Sheffield |0.63 |0.67 |0.71 |0.72
Cambridgeshire |0.68 |0.71 |0.72 |0.70
Norfolk |0.70 |0.75 |0.77 |0.73
Suffolk |0.78 |0.84 |0.87 |0.88
Bedfordshire |0.47 |0.52 |0.54 |0.55
Hertfordshire |0.65 |0.67 |0.70 |0.70
Barnet |0.50 |0.41 |0.43 |0.41
Brent and Harrow |0.54 |0.52 |0.55 |0.57
Ealing, Hammersmith and Hounslow |0.46 |0.48 |0.51 |0.50
Hillingdon |0.59 |0.62 |0.65 |0.65
Kensington, Westminster and Chelsea |0.56 |0.41 |0.43 |0.42
Essex |0.54 |0.56 |0.58 |0.58
Barking and Havering |0.47 |0.51 |0.54 |0.54
Camden and Islington |0.56 |0.54 |0.58 |0.56
City and East London |0.43 |0.43 |0.46 |0.45
Enfield and Haringey |0.49 |0.46 |0.49 |0.48
Redbridge and Waltham Forest |0.46 |0.49 |0.52 |0.54
East Sussex |0.69 |0.74 |0.76 |0.75
Kent |0.60 |0.63 |0.61 |0.53
Greenwich and Bexley |0.54 |0.56 |0.59 |0.55
Bromley |0.51 |0.41 |0.40 |0.35
Lambeth, Southwark and Lewisham |0.52 |0.53 |0.55 |0.54
Surrey |0.70 |0.67 |0.69 |0.64
West Sussex |0.76 |0.79 |0.80 |0.78
Croydon |0.59 |0.64 |0.66 |0.64
Kingston and Richmond |0.51 |0.43 |0.46 |0.46
Merton, Sutton and Wandsworth |0.50 |0.48 |0.50 |0.50
Dorset |0.79 |0.87 |0.88 |0.86
Hampshire |0.74 |0.78 |0.79 |0.77
Wiltshire |0.67 |0.70 |0.72 |0.71
Isle of Wight |0.78 |0.86 |0.86 |0.81
Berkshire |0.61 |0.59 |0.61 |0.58
Buckinghamshire |0.60 |0.63 |0.62 |0.56
Northamptonshire |0.59 |0.63 |0.66 |0.68
Oxfordshire |0.64 |0.64 |0.63 |0.53
Avon |0.76 |0.81 |0.83 |0.82
Cornwall and Isles of Scilly |0.64 |0.71 |0.72 |0.67
Devon |0.71 |0.77 |0.78 |0.74
Gloucestershire |0.78 |0.85 |0.82 |0.61
Somerset |0.77 |0.85 |0.88 |0.90
Hereford and Worcester |0.68 |0.74 |0.76 |0.78
Shropshire |0.67 |0.76 |0.78 |0.76
Staffordshire |0.55 |0.62 |0.63 |0.63
Warwickshire |0.66 |0.71 |0.72 |0.70
Birmingham |0.59 |0.64 |0.66 |0.67
Coventry |0.56 |0.60 |0.60 |0.60
Dudley |0.58 |0.65 |0.67 |0.68
Sandwell |0.53 |0.59 |0.63 |0.64
Solihull |0.54 |0.61 |0.64 |0.62
Walsall |0.44 |0.51 |0.53 |0.57
Wolverhampton |0.60 |0.65 |0.69 |0.71
Cheshire |0.66 |0.73 |0.75 |0.76
Liverpool |0.53 |0.56 |0.60 |0.62
St. Helens and Knowsley |0.48 |0.55 |0.59 |0.61
Sefton |0.60 |0.69 |0.73 |0.75
Wirral |0.63 |0.70 |0.72 |0.73
Lancashire |0.58 |0.65 |0.66 |0.65
Bolton |0.60 |0.68 |0.71 |0.73
Bury |0.62 |0.68 |0.69 |0.70
Manchester |0.58 |0.66 |0.71 |0.73
Oldham |0.55 |0.63 |0.68 |0.71
Rochdale |0.54 |0.60 |0.65 |0.66
Salford |0.53 |0.59 |0.62 |0.64
Stockport |0.79 |0.86 |0.89 |0.90
Tameside |0.53 |0.60 |0.62 |0.63
Trafford |0.75 |0.82 |0.85 |0.89
Wigan |0.52 |0.59 |0.64 |0.67
Source:
Dental Practice Board and Office of Population Censuses and Surveys.
Notes:
<1> Dentists may treat patients who are not resident within their FHSA. Courses of treatment will not therefore be confined to the
population of the FHSA.
1. OPCS mid year estimates of population.
2. The table shows data for adults only. Children are excluded because, since October 1990, dental treatment for children is carried
out under capitation arrangements and information on courses of treatment are not identifiable separately.
Mrs. Beckett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will break down the number of NHS dentists by family health service authority or smallest available area in each year since 1990 91.
Mr. Malone: The information will be placed in the Library.
Discharged Patients
Mrs. Beckett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many patients were discharged from hospital in each of the last 10 years.
Mr. Sackville: The information is not available in the form requested. Information for regional health authorities, district health authorities, special health authorities and national health service trusts, relating to discharges and deaths for the years 1984 to 1988 89, and for finished consultant episodes for the years 1988 89 to 1993 94, is published in "Ordinary and day case admissions for England" for the years 1992 93 and 1993 94, copies of which are available in the Library.
Paediatric Beds
Mrs. Beckett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many paediatric beds there were in each year since 1989;
(2) what percentage of children were admitted to adult beds in each of the last five years.
Mr. Sackville: Information on numbers of paediatric beds is available in "Bed Availability for England, Financial Years 1991 92 and 1993 94", copies of which are available in the Library. Information on the number of children admitted to adult beds is not available centrally.
Out-patients (Waiting Time)
Mrs. Beckett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what evidence her Department has of (a) the longest waiting time, (b) the shortest waiting time and (c) the average waiting time, for an out-patient appointment.
Column 266
Mr. Malone: Information on the waiting time for first out-patient appointments will be published shortly.
Hospital Beds
Mrs. Beckett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) acute, (b) intensive care, (c) long-term care (geriatric), (d) maternity, (e) paediatric, (f) psychiatric, (g) casualty and (h) total hospital beds were available in the national health service, in each year since 1978 and for each region of England.
Mr. Sackville: For the financial years 1988 89 to 1993 94 the information requested on numbers of acute, intensive care, geriatric, maternity, paediatric, mental illness and total beds by region has been published in "Bed availability for England". The volume for the financial year 1991 92 covers the years 1988 89, 1989 90, 1990 91 and 1991 92, and the subsequent volumes cover the two later years. Copies of the volumes are available in the Library.
For the period 1978 to 1987, data were not collected on the same basis. National information on bed numbers was published in the statistical bulletins, "NHS Hospital Activity Statistics for England 1974 1984" and "NHS Hospital Activity Analysis for England 1979 1988 89", copies of which are available in the Library.
Information on numbers of accidents and emergency beds is not available centrally.
Heart Bypass Surgery
Mrs. Beckett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is the national standard waiting time for coronary artery bypass surgery where a patient's life is under threat.
Mr. Malone: It is not appropriate to have a waiting time standard for coronary bypass surgery where a patient's life is under threat. All such patients are treated as emergencies.
Patients are placed on a waiting list only if, in the opinion of a clinician at the time of assessment, their condition is judged to be stable.
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