30. Mr. Slaterasked the Minister of Health what is the decrease in the number of patients in the Winterton Hospital as a result of the Sedgefield Isolation Hospital being transferred to the former hospital management committee, partly in October, 1956, and wholly in April, 1957.
§ Mr. Vaughan-MorganNone, since admission of mental patients to the former isolation hospital has not yet begun.
Mr. SlaterCan the hon. Gentleman confirm reports, circulated in the area at the time when the regional hospital board decided to transfer the hospital to the mental hospital management committee, that all the accommodation in the isolation hosiptal had been taken by the Winterton Hospital Management Committee for patients from that hospital?
§ Mr. Vaughan-MorganAdmissions will begin in a week or two. The hospital is to be used for patients suffering from mental instability due to old age.
31. Mr. Slaterasked the Minister of Health the numbers of admissions and discharges at the Winterton Hospital in 1954, 1955 and 1956.
§ Mr. Vaughan-MorganFor the three years admissions and discharges (including deaths)were respectively 767 and 774; 950 and 966; and 1,201 and 1,242.
Mr. SlaterCan the hon. Gentleman say how many patients being transferred to voluntary status are included in the figures for admissions, and whether the discharging of those patients—without their actually leaving the hospital—has 862 been included in the number of discharges?
§ Mr. Vaughan-MorganNot without a lot of notice.
§ Mr. ChetwyndCan the hon. Gentleman say why there is a very large increase in the numbers?
§ Mr. Vaughan-MorganIt is due to the extra voluntary admissions that there has been a big increase in the last two years.
§ Mr. BlenkinsopCan the hon. Gentleman say whether the picture for this hospital is very different from that for other hospitals?
§ Mr. Vaughan-MorganIt is clear from the figures that there has been a surge in voluntary admissions to the hospital in the last two years.