asked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) what proportion of Health Service expenditure is currently spent on hospitals;(2) what is the current level of
(a) total and (b) general costs in National Health Service hospitals;
(3) how expenditure on hospital and community health care for the current year is made up in terms of (a) capital expenditure, (b) catering, (c) portering and (d) domestic services.
[pursuant to his reply, 4 March 1982, c. 228]: The printed table of expenditure by regional health authorities, area health authorities and boards of governors in 1980–81 should have read as follows:Health Service patients and private patients under the National Health Service; what is his best estimate of the cost of treatment prior to operation for varicose veins in each of the areas of Scotland; and if he will make a statement.
During 1979, the latest date for which information is available, the mean waiting time for patients admitted as in-patients from the waiting list for an operation for varicose veins were as follows. Separate information is not available for private patients. It is not possible to make a reliable estimate of the cost of treatment prior to any particular type of operation.
| Health Board | Mean Wailing time* |
| Ayrshire and Arran | 237 days |
| Borders | 226 days |
| Argyll and Clyde | 283 days |
| Fife | 268 days |
| Greater Glasgow | 131 days |
| Highland | 78 days |
| Lanarkshire | 173 days |
| Grampian | 133 days |
| Orkney | 40 days |
| Lothian | 157 days |
| Tayside | 140 days |
| Forth Valley | 243 days |
| Western Isles | 78 days |
| Dumfries and Galloway | 456 days |
| Shetland | 183 days |
| * Figures relate to those patients admitted from the waiting list and released from hospital during 1979. | |