§ 25. Miss Herbisonasked the Secretary of State for Scotland how many hospitals have industrial chest units; and if he will encourage regional hospital boards whose areas cover a coalfield to establish an industrial chest unit where this has not been done.
§ Mr. J. StuartThe only specific unit of this kind is that at Bangour Hospital, but facilities for diagnosis and treatment are provided by the chest units generally. Any question of special provision on a wider scale is a matter for the regional hospital boards, and the assessment of priorities must be left to them in the light of medical opinion and their knowledge of local needs and circumstances.
§ Miss HerbisonIs the Secretary of State aware that about three years ago he replied to me saying that the unit at Bangour was in the experimental stage? Is he also aware that the National Union of Mineworkers has been asking for the same thing as I have asked for in this Question and in previous debates? Does he not think that it might help recruitment to the mines if young men were assured that everything possible was being done to mitigate this great disease from which miners suffer?
§ Mr. StuartI agree that we must do all that we can in that direction, but specialised units are not the only method favoured by medical opinion to which I must pay some attention, but, in conjunction with the regional hospital board, I will certainly consider whether any further action should be taken.
§ Mr. HubbardIs the Secretary of State aware that the incidence of chest diseases in Scotland, and in Fife in particular, is now higher than in any other coalfield in the country, that the matter is really urgent, apart from the health of the men, as far as coal production is concerned, but that nothing very much is apparently being done to combat this dread disease?
§ Mr. StuartI am not contradicting the fact that it is a very serious problem. We certainly do our best to try to handle it.