Hansard

Long-Stay Beds

Volume 268: debated on Tuesday 5 December 1995

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Mr. Robin Cook

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will list the numbers of long-stay beds in the NHS in Scotland in 1990, broken down to show the numbers for the (a) elderly, (b) psychiatry, (c) learning difficulties and (d) chronic young sick, categories; what are the figures under these categories for 1 April; and if he will estimate in these categories the number of available long-stay beds in the NHS in Scotland by (i) 1 April 1998 and (ii) 1 April 2000. [3445]

Mr. Michael Forsyth

Future bed numbers in each health board area are a matter for local determination based on a thorough assessment of local health needs.The information requested for 1990 and 1995 is as follows:

NHS and joint-user and contractual hospitals in Scotland— average available staffed NHS beds; by selected specialty; years ending 31 March

1990

1995

All selected beds29,21822,231
Geriatric long stay9,1327,442
Psychiatric specialities14,40711,034
Learning difficulties5,2833,468
Young chronic sick396287

  • 1. The figures in the table relate to long stay beds for geriatric and young chronic sick patients, and to total beds for psychiatric and learning difficulty patients. Around 40 per cent. of psychiatric beds and 10 per cent. of learning difficulty beds are used for the care of short stay patients.
  • 2. The figures show information on the average daily number of available staffed beds. This indicates the number of beds which are staffed and are available for the reception of in-patients and day cases.