§ 42. Mr. Bowdenasked the Minister of Health whether his attention has been drawn to the letter received by the hon. Member for Leicester, South-West from the Physician Superintendent of the Leicester Isolation Hospital and Chest Unit, Groby Road, Leicester, in reply to an inquiry about a constituent patient, a copy of which has been sent him; and whether he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Iain MacleodYes, Sir. I regret that owing to certain misunderstandings the hon. Member's inquiries were not answered more fully and promptly. As he knows, however, the patient's operation was not urgent, and it has now been successfully performed.
§ Mr. BowdenIn view of the implication contained in the letter that Members of Parliament writing to hospitals, or to this hospital in particular, are engaged in 370 politics, will the Minister say whether, in his view, an hon. Member should write on behalf of a constituent to a hospital, or to the regional hospital board, or to the Ministry itself?
§ Mr. MacleodMembers of Parliament, of course, have the very fullest rights in those matters, subject to the fact—and all hon. Members will agree with this—that there are many clinical and other matters which quite properly could not possibly be divulged to them or anyone else. I very much regret the misunderstanding that took place between the hospital and the hon. Member, but I must say that I did not read such a sinister imputation into the letter he received from the hospital as he did himself.
§ Mr. BowdenIs the Minister aware that between my writing to Dr. Mackenzie in the first place, a month and a day elapsed before I wrote to him a second time, and that I then waited for a further month before I received a rather discourteous reply?