asked the Secretary of State for the Social Services what is the average annual cost of keeping a severely disabled patient in an orthopaedic ward, including an appropriate capital charge.
The information is not available in the precise form requested. The cost of treating particular classes of illnesses or conditions is not separately identified in the cost accounts of National Health Service hospitals, except where treatment is in a hospital providing predominantly for a single speciality, and even here costs are not subdivided according to degrees of, for example, disablement of patients. Thus, whilst the cost of treatment in the orthopaedic ward of an acute hospital cannot be separated from that of other specialties, average costs in certain hospitals specifically classified as orthopaedic are available from returns to the Department.Returns for the financial year ended 31st March 1976 are as yet incomplete, but from those so far received it is possible to estimate that the average cost in that year of treating a patient in a hospital of that type in England was about £8,500 annually.
This figure reflects revenue costs only. It is not possible with any reasonable degree of accuracy to break down hospital capital expenditure to relate it to treatment provided for particular types of patient.