§ 8. Miss Irene Wardasked the Minister of Health what number of beds are now available in Switzerland for English patients suffering from tuberculosis.
§ 10. Mr. Doddsasked the Minister of Health if he can yet make a statement in respect to the proposal for sending tuberculosis sufferers to Switzerland for treatment under the National Health Service.
23. Mrs. Hillasked the Minister of Health if he will make it possible for patients from England and Wales to have similar facilities to those to be provided by Scottish hospital authorities for sending their tubercular patients to Switzerland.
§ 25. Mr. Heathcoat Amoryasked the Minister of Health whether he has yet found a way in which beds available in tuberculosis sanatoria in Switzerland can be utilised for patients waiting for accommodation in hospitals in this country.
§ 34. Mr. A. Fenner Brockwayasked the Minister of Health if he can now announce what arrangements have been made for the use of sanatoria in Switzerland for people from England and Wales suffering from tuberculosis.
§ Mr. MarquandThe possibility of using the available Swiss beds is being considered, but I cannot yet add to previous answers on this matter.
§ Miss WardWill the right hon. Gentleman please explain why it is possible for 1049 Scotland to have these facilities when the English have not got these facilities? Is it because the former Minister of Health decided that there would be no beds, and is the right hon. Gentleman proposing to carry on that policy to the detriment of the English?
§ Mr. MarquandI have said nothing at all in any way in contradiction of what my hon. Friend the Joint Under-Secretary of State for Scotland said recently. She said that explorations were being made on behalf of the Secretary of State for Scotland. They are being made on my behalf, also, in Switzerland at the present time.
§ Mr. DoddsWill my right hon. Friend explain the mystery of why it was possible, last week, to give Scotland this facility, when this week it is not possible to make a declaration with regard to England?
§ Mr. MarquandI wish my hon. Friend would read HANSARD. There was no declaration that facilities had been afforded or provided for Scotland. There was a declaration that it was under consideration, and that, in particular, discussions were going on with my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer.
Dr. HillIn his consideration, will the right hon. Gentleman bear in mind that there is a great deal of urgency, because one of the larger establishments, Montana Hall, is about to close?
§ Mr. MarquandI should certainly not like to give any impression that I did not regard the subject as important. Nevertheless, we must keep a sense of proportion about it. I told the House last week that since the start of the Health Service no fewer than 3,550 additional beds for the care of tuberculosis had been provided in England and Wales, and that a very considerable proportion of those had been provided in the last six months. What is available in Switzerland, though I have not so far had a full report, is only a very small fraction of what has been provided, even in recent months, in this country.
§ Mrs. Jean MannDoes my right hon. Friend acknowledge that the position in Scotland is, and always has been, very much worse than that in England: and will he inform English Members that they 1050 cannot always get the best of both worlds?
§ Lieut.-Colonel ElliotWill the Minister make it quite clear that there are the same dilatory results in both countries, that no beds have been made available to patients from either country, and that the complacency shown in his last answer in face of a waiting list of many thousands is quite unjustified?
§ Mr. MarquandIn this matter the right hon. and gallant Gentleman must be a good judge of complacency.
§ Lieut.-Colonel ElliotI provided more beds than the right hon. Gentleman.
§ Miss WardOwing to the unsatisfactory nature of the reply, I beg to give notice that I shall raise this matter on the Adjournment at the earliest opportunity.
§ Mr. MarquandQuestion No. 23 has already been answered with Question No. 8. Does the hon. Lady wish to put Question No. 24?
Mrs. HillI could not hear the answer, Sir. There was a lot of hubbub going on and I wished to ask a supplementary.
§ Mr. SpeakerThe hon. Lady can ask a supplementary on Question No. 24.
Mrs. HillIs the Minister aware that as far back as 16th November his predecessor said that a question of currency was involved in this matter?
§ Mr. SpeakerWe cannot go back to Question No. 8. The Minister is about to answer Question No. 24.
24. Mrs. Hillasked the Minister of Health if he will reconsider the position of tuberculosis patients who have tried to help themselves by finding accommodation in Switzerland at their own expense and make some grant towards the cost of their treatment.
§ Mr. MarquandI have no power to make such grants.
§ Mr. H. HyndHow many of these tuberculosis patients would have been sent to Switzerland at the State's expense if the Opposition had been successful in their votes against the Health Service Bill?
§ Mr. W. FletcherWill the right hon. Gentleman represent to the Treasury that 1051 they should give favourable consideration to this suggestion?
§ Mr. MarquandIt is no good giving favourable consideration if there is no statutory power.
Mrs. HillIs the Minister aware that before the National Health Service local authorities were able to give some aid to people who sought their help when suffering from this complaint? Would he further consider the matter?
§ Lieut.-Colonel ElliotWill the Minister give an answer to that question? Will he also accept the assurance that if it is necessary to afford precedence for legislation of this kind, we on this side of the House will be very glad to do it in preference to some of the legislation which the Government are now bringing forward?
§ Mr. MarquandBoth those questions seem to me to be hypothetical.
§ Mr. SpeakerWe have had long enough on this Question.