§ Mr. Cartwrightasked the Secretary of State for Defence whether any further consideration has been given to the future use of the new Army hospital at Woolwich, in the light of the comments made in the report of the Defence Medical Services Inquiry Committee published in 1973.
§ Mr. Robert C. BrownThe Defence Medical Services Inquiry Committee recommended that the future use of the398W new Army Hospital at Woolwich should be immediately reviewed. That review confirmed the need for the planned new Queen Elizabeth Military Hospital as the central reference hospital for the Army worldwide, the Army's main hospital in the United Kingdom and the Army's main centre for postgraduate training of the Royal Army Medical Corps. This new hospital will replace the existing Queen Alexandra Military Hospital, Millbank, and the Royal Herbert and the Military Maternity Hospitals at Woolwich. In view of the importance of ensuring that expensive hospital facilities are fully used my hon. Friend the Minister of State, Department of Health and Social Security, and I have instructed our officials to examine, in consultation with the South-East Thames Regional Health Authority, how the facilities to be provided at the new Queen Elizabeth Military Hospital, Woolwich, could best be used in the national interest to meet both Service requirements and those of the National Health Service in the locality of Woolwich.