§ 70. Lord BALCARRESasked the Secretary to the Treasury whether he is aware that Mr. William Watkinson, of Applely Bridge, Wigan, who was medically recommended for sanatorium benefit in July last, was only able to obtain a vacancy in the Liverpool Sanatorium, Kingswood, on 28th September, and only then without the assistance of the county authority; and that Mr. Watkinson has applied to the county medical officer of health for compensation from that date, but that compensation has been refused him prior to 12th October; whether he can say under what authority this has been done; and if there is any redress for persons unable to obtain the benefits to which they are entitled?
§ Mr. MASTERMANThe Commissioners are in communication with the insurance committee with reference to this case, which, I am informed, will be further considered by the committee next week.
§ 43. Mr. WRIGHTasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer from what source the cost of treatment in the county of Derbyshire of an estimated number of 266 fresh cases of consumptives a year, who will be insured persons, or their dependants, amounting to £26,600 in the first year and £53,200 in subsequent years, will be derived; if, under the National Insurance 2292 Act, a consumptive will be kept for two years under the best conditions that the latest scientific inventions can discover at a cost of £200; and, under that Act, the amount available for sanatorium treatment in that county is, in the event of the doctors accepting his recent offer, only £6,570, and in the event of their refusal, £10,950?
§ Mr. MASTERMANI do not know upon what grounds the hon. Member bases his estimate of the number of fresh eases of consumptives a year in the administrative county of Derbyshire. The estimated number of insured persons in the county is 167,400. According to the Report of the Departmental Committee on I Tuberculosis (Cd. 6164), the number of sanatorium beds required for this number of persons taking into account the average length of stay in the institution would be between thirty-three and thirty-four. The number of hospital beds required would probably be the same. Taking the average cost of a bed at as much as 35s. a week the amount required for the treatment of insured persons would be about £6,100 per annum, leaving an ample margin for emergencies. If sanatorium treatment is extended to the dependants of the insured and other non-insured persons additional sums may be made available for the purpose.
EARL of KERRYTs the right hon. Gentleman aware that the figure given in the question of £200 is taken direct from a speech delivered the other day by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and also that the other figures are those of the Derbyshire Insurance Committee?
§ Mr. MASTERMANNo; I do not think my right hon. Friend ever said that every sanatorium patient would require £200 spent upon him. He gave an example in which the medical treatment required would cost that sum, and he said the sum would be forthcoming. It is not estimated by the Astor Committee, which was a committee of experts, that £200 will be required to cure every sanatorium patient.
§ Mr. RUPERT GWYNNEAre we then to understand that the example of the Chancellor of the Exchequer gave is not an average case, but an exaggerated one?
§ Mr. MASTERMANIt was a case that came before an insurance committee and was recommended for treatment.