§ 54. Mr. MACLEANasked the Minister of Health whether he will make available to Members of this House the circular issued by his Department to local authorities instructing them to reduce the period of isolation in infectious cases and to have the patients discharged sooner from institutions, and the instructions to local authorities to abandon the disinfecting of houses from which cases of infectious diseases have been removed; and whether he can state the date when this circular was issued?
§ Mr. SHAKESPEAREMy right hon. Friend has issued no such instructions, but he assumes that the hon. Member refers to the recent circular in which he asked local authorities to give special consideration to the recommendations on these subjects which are contained in the Report of the Committee on Local Expenditure. The date of the circular is the 22nd March, and my right hon. Friend will arrange for copies to be placed in the Library of the House.
§ Mr. MACLEANIs it not the case that what has been sent out to the local authorities was understood by them to carry with it a recommendation from the 1577 Ministry of Health as to what they should do, and that in many cases they are pursuing this course?
§ Mr. SHAKESPEARECertain recommendations have been made. If the hon. Member will refer to them, he will see that they include the one mentioned in the question.
§ Mr. MACLEANIs it not the case that reducing the period of isolation, and sending patients away before the usual period has expired, means further expense, and mot an economy, to the local authorities?
§ Mr. SHAKESPEAREThe hon. Member will realise that there is a great deal of divergence of opinion on the point that he is raising.