HC Deb 01 February 1951 vol 483 cc1053-4
13. Mr. Black

asked the Minister of Health the average length of time taken for the supply of spectacles under the National Health Service Act from date of application to date of delivery.

Mr. Marquand

An average figure is not available. With the exception of certain complicated lenses most glasses can now be supplied with very little delay.

Lieut.-Commander Gurney Braith-waite

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that, while the production of spectacles has been speeded up in recent months, the bottleneck now appears to be in the arrival of the form authorising the manufacturer to deliver to the applicant; and will he try to shake up his Department after the recent lax administration?

Mr. Marquand

I am assured that the period between the date of the order for spectacles placed by the optician with the manufacturer and the date of delivery is now only about one week.

Lieut.-Commander Braithwaite

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that I have been waiting for two months?

18. Sir Ian Fraser

asked the Minister of Health if he is aware that Mr. Horace Graydon, Morecambe, has been waiting 21 months for his spectacles, that now he has got them they are no good because he has meantime become partially blind through cataract; and if he will make sure that Mr. Graydon now gets the appropriate spectacles quickly.

Mr. Marquand

Mr. Graydon was supplied on 18th January with spectacles which, he states, are quite satisfactory.

Sir I. Fraser

I am very glad of that, but will the Minister arrange some method for dealing with complaints of this kind so that people can get satisfaction quickly without the necessity for intervention by a Member of Parliament?

Mr. Marquand

Yes, Sir. The spectacles, as I am sure the hon. Gentleman knows, were of a very special kind—bifocal glasses with Crooks A.I. tints—but now that the back of the other problem—the supply of the general type of glasses—is obviously broken, there should be less delay in the supply of these special glasses.

Mr. McAdden

Would the Minister give particular attention to this question of the long delay in delivery of spectacles, especially in view of the recent activities of his colleague the Minister of Food?