HC Deb 27 February 1956 vol 549 c826
37. Mr. Collins

asked the Minister of Health if he will instruct regional hospital boards that in all cases where a patient in a mental deficiency hospital has satisfactorily completed a period of two years on licence, they must obtain from the medical superintendent his reasons for not recommending to the Board of Control that the patient shall be discharged from order.

Mr. Turton

No, Sir. It is the duty of hospital management committees to keep all patients on licence under constant review, and in a memorandum issued by the Board of Control in 1949 they were requested to make, in addition, a special review at the end of the second year of licence. The Board proposes to remind hospital management committees of these responsibilities and in future to call for a special review after a shorter interval.

Mr. Collins

Is the Minister aware that his answer is most satisfactory but that I cannot reconcile the main part of it with the first part, "No, Sir"?

Mr. Turton

I am sorry, but I find that supplementary rather hard to apprehend. What is clear is that all these cases are kept under constant review.