CLAUSE 11.—(Regional Hospital Boards, Hospital Management Committees, and Boards of Governors of teaching hospitals.) (Hansard, 22 July 1946)

§ Mr. Key

I beg to move, in page 13, line 34, to leave out Subsection (8), and to insert: (8) Where after the appointed day—

(a) any of the areas for which Regional Hospital Boards are constituted are varied, whether or not such variation involves the constitution 'of a new Board or the termination of the functions of an existing Board;
(b) a new scheme is made under Subsection (4) of this Section involving the appointment of a new Hospital Management Committee or the termination of the functions of an existing Committee or any variation in the grouping of hospitals managed by such Committees; or
(c) a new teaching hospital is designated or the designation of a teaching hospital is 1694 revoked, or any hospital is included in or excluded from a group of hospitals so designated;

the Minister may by order make provision for any supplementary and incidental matters for which it appears to him to he necessary or expedient to provide, and in particular—

(i) for the transfer and compensation of officers, and the transfer of property and liabilities;
(ii) for making a new apportionment or an adjustment, in accordance with regulations made under Subsection (5) of Section seven of this Act, of the shares of Regional Hospital Boards and Hospital Management Committees in the capital value of the Hospital Endowments Fund; and
(iii) in a case to which paragraph (c) of this Subsection applies, for requiring capital assets to be transferred from the said Fund to the Board of Governors of a teaching hospital, or, as the case may be, from any such Board to the said Fund."

During the work of administering this hospital service there may arise the question of the provision of new hospitals, the closing down of existing hospitals and the allocation to one hospital management group, of a hospital in some other hospital group. For instance, it might be a question of promoting a particular hospital to be designated as a teaching hospital. A great number of processes will arise out of the ordinary administration, and these alterations might necessitate variations in the areas of administration of the Regional Hospital Board or of the hospital management committee or of a hoard of governors of a teaching hospital. In order that these may be readily carried out we find it necessary to make this alteration.

The Amendment will give the Minister the necessary power to make such changes as will involve, for instance, the transfer and compensation of officers of the particular institutions concerned together with the transfer of the property and liabilities. There will be the re-apportionment of the Hospital Endowments Fund as well as such things as the transfer of capital assets between the fond and the boards of governors in cases where new teaching hospitals are designated. In order that this may be done we desire the new Subsection. We are asking that certain powers under Subsection (8) as it stands shall be omitted, because they give a certain amount of trouble. For the reassurance of hon. Members, I might say that this Amendment will not alter in any way the position which the Minister accepted in Committee that the fixing of the areas of the Regional Boards should be done by 1695 order which will be laid before Parliament. The same thing will apply to the alteration of the areas of the Regional Boards, and there is an Amendment on the Order Paper for discussion later which will secure that this is done.