42. Mr. Slaterasked the Minister of Health the number of hospitals to be built in 1955; and what areas are designated for new hospitals in the next three years.
§ Mr. Iain MacleodI hope it will be possible to make a start before the end of the next financial year on a new hospital for Welwyn and Hatfield; and work on the new mental deficiency hospital near Southport is continuing. I cannot say what new hospitals will be started in the three years after 1955 until I know what sums will be available for hospital capital development generally in that period.
Mr. SlaterIs not the Minister aware that, even though he does not know what he will be able to do in the next three years, if he does not improve on the reply he has just given, this country will be left for a very long time with hospitals which will be falling into decay and which ought to be pulled down?
§ Mr. MacleodNo one in this House is more anxious to see new hospitals built than I am.