To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is the cost to the Mersey regional health authority for a patient spending a week in hospital.

Financial returns submitted to the Department by district health authorities in the Mersey region for 1990–91 indicate the average treatment cost for all specialties to be approximately £80 per bed day (i.e. in-patients and day care).This figure is provisional. It covers all direct clinical and diagnostic costs but excludes expenditure on support and hotel services.