Ex-Soldier, Birmingham (Call-up) (Hansard, 2 July 1953)

§ 53. Mr. Shurmer
asked the Minister of Labour why Terence Morris, Conway Road, Sparkbrook, Birmingham, was passed Grade 2 by a Ministry medical board and posted to a Royal Army Ordnance Corps department, near Alder-shot, on 28th May last, when he had, as a child, attended the school for blind in Birmingham.

§ Mr. Watkinson
I very much regret that the National Service Medical Board at Birmingham was at fault in placing Mr. Morris in Grade 2, in view of the report of the ophthalmic specialist to whom they had referred him. My right hon. and learned Friend is taking special steps to see that this kind of mistake does not occur again, and wishes me to express his regret to Mr. Morris for what has happened.

§ Mr. Shurmer
Is the Parliamentary Secretary aware that this is not the first case so far as eyesight is concerned? I was able to prevent a boy going into the Army after he had his call-up papers and his warrant. This is not the first case of a boy being passed for the Army when he is unfit. What about the boy who died a few weeks ago? These boys are embarrassed by leaving their jobs and then being pulled up in the Army for not being able to do their work.

§ Mr. Watkinson
I quite sympathise with the hon. Member's interest and anxiety about this case. I think that this anxiety is shared by the whole House. We certainly want to be quite sure that the medical arrangements for the call-up work efficiently and well. In this respect, I should say that my right hon. and learned Friend would have been here himself to deal with this matter had he not had to be in attendance on Her Majesty in Northern Ireland today. He attaches the greatest possible importance to the principle I have just enunciated. Though it may not be much satisfaction to Mr. Morris, as a result of this case we are drawing the attention of all medical boards to the need for making quite certain that nothing in a consultant's report is overlooked. As to the other case mentioned by the hon. Member, if the House wishes I can give the full details. The hon. Member's facts are not quite correct; this man was correctly called up.

§ Mr. Wyatt
Will the Parliamentary Secretary bear in mind that it seems that these medical boards generally are not working quite as efficiently as in the past? This is only one of a number of recent cases. It is important that parents, in particular, should feel confident that when these boys go before medical boards they should be properly examined and put into the right grades.

§ Mr. Watkinson
It is most important, but the hon. Member's implication is quite incorrect. Medical boards all over the country are working as well and as efficiently as always. There have been three recent cases in Birmingham which have received a great deal of publicity. The one to which I have just referred was a genuine mistake—the first mistake in the 12 years' operation of the chairman of that particular panel. With regard to the second one, mentioned by the hon. Member, his facts are not quite correct; the man was correctly called up. The case of the other man which he has mentioned should be the subject of another Question altogether; but there again inquiries are proceeding, and it is a quite exceptional case. I think that it would be most improper for this House to assume, incorrectly, that medical boards as a whole are not being as fair and as accurate as they always have been.

§ Mr. Roy Jenkins
Will the Parliamentary Secretary bear in mind that in my constituency, which is in Birmingham, like that of my hon. Friend the Member for Sparkbrook (Mr. Shurmer), I have had at least four cases in the past six months, particulars of which I can give him, where men with a long history of ill-health have been called up and have subsequently had to be released from the Forces after great hardship to themselves and great trouble to the military authorities?

§ Mr. Watkinson
I can assure the House that what has happened in the Birmingham area will be sifted to the bottom. Our medical adviser is in Birmingham now. The whole thing will be thoroughly examined and the necessary action taken.

§ Mr. Robens
Is not the Parliamentary Secretary aware that his answer smacks of complacency? The other day one of his right hon. Friends gave the figures of discharges within a few weeks of admittance to the Army, which were far 590 too high, and were the result of the very bad boards through which some of these boys have to pass.

§ Mr. Watkinson
I have before me the figures of discharges which arose between our medical examination and the Armed Forces medical examination. For last year the figure was 7 per cent.^* [HON. MEMBERS: "Oh."] Perhaps I may be allowed to finish my sentence. If we look into these cases and make a detailed analysis, we find that a very high proportion are due to changing conditions between the time when the boy has his medical examination for the National Service call-up and the time when he has his medical examination in the Armed Forces. I do not think there is any great cause for alarm.
As for the right hon. Gentleman's suggestion that we are complacent, I have told the House that immediately these cases came to our notice our medical adviser was sent to the Birmingham area, and I have told the House that we are sending special instructions to every medical panel in the country to take the greatest possible care about specialist reports, which was the point involved in this case. I certainly do not think that my right hon. and learned Friend can be accused of complacency.

§ Mr. Shurmer
I am not prepared to accept the Parliamentary Secretary's statement about the other case mentioned. Is the Parliamentary Secretary aware that, in another case, the boy was passed Al until he forced the authorities to send him to a specialist, when he was found to be Grade 4? He was graded Al despite the fact that he complained of having had 14 operations to his eyes. Unless an investigation is held into, and some care taken with, these medical boards, we shall be justified in the old joke that if a doctor feels you and you are warm, you are in.

§ Mr. Watkinson
Now we have come back to the subject of the Question. I quite agree, and I have already said in my answer, that the trouble arose from the fact that although the boy was properly sent to a specialist and the specialist's report should have resulted in his being graded Grade 4, a mistake was made.