asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is the average weekly cost of maintaining a long-stay patient in a geriatric, orthopaedic and psychiatric ward of a NHS hospital, respectively, at the latest convenient date, due allowance being made for the capital facilities being used.

Average weekly in-patient costs are not calculated on a ward basis and the costs of treating patients with specified diseases or conditions are not segregated in hospitals in which the specialties are mixed. In 1973–74 average costs in hospitals of the nearest appropriate types in England were as follows:

	£
Hospitals wholly or predominantly containing geriatric beds	46·67
Hospitals classified as orthopaedic	92·83
Hospitals classified as psychiatric (mentalillness)	36·60
Hospitals classified as psychiatric (mentalhandicap)	33·68

These costs do not include capital expenditure. The capital costs of hospitals, many of which were built before the start of the National Health Service, are not identifiable for costing purposes.