§ 47. Mr. K. Robinsonasked the Minister of Health how many new hospitals are 562 under construction in England and Wales, showing mental hospitals and mental deficiency hospitals separately.
§ Mr. Iain MacleodOne new mental deficiency hospital near Southport, for which preliminary site works are in progress.
§ Mr. RobinsonWill the right hon. Gentleman not agree that that is a very disappointing reply? Does he not also agree that this country is steadily falling behind practically every other European country? Is he not aware that in France, Italy, Switzerland and all the Scandinavian countries there are excellent modern post-war hospitals?
§ Mr. MacleodI am certainly aware that it has not been possible to build new hospitals since the war; but, after all, none was built in the six years in which the party opposite were in power. At least we are now making a start.
§ Mr. MarquandIs the right hon. Gentleman not aware that he told me only a week or two ago, in a Written answer to a Question, that during the first two years of his Government's administration there was less capital expenditure each year for hospitals than in the previous two years?
§ Mr. MacleodThe right hon. Gentleman must study the allocation for next year.
§ Mr. MacleodIn many cases the problems of staff are not so much those of total number as of distribution. There are, and remain, very considerable problems in sanatoria and in the mental field. That is one of the matters that we were discussing earlier in relation to a pay claim that has now gone to arbitration.