HC Deb 17 December 1958 vol 597 cc1121-2
45. Miss Bacon

asked the Prime Minister whether he will take steps to ensure that free treatment is provided for British civilians in all hospitals abroad for which any Department of Her Majesty's Government is responsible.

The Secretary of State for the Home Department and Lord Privy Seal (Mr. R. A. Butler)

I have been asked to reply.

The only such hospitals are those for which my right hon. Friends, the Minister of Defence and the Service Ministers, are responsible. The question of free treatment for civilians in these hospitals is now under consideration.

Miss Bacon

While thanking the right hon. Gentleman for that reply, may I ask whether he is aware that up to now the Minister of Health, while making reciprocal arrangements with countries abroad, has so far failed to accept responsibility for coming to similar arrangements with other Government Departments? May I take it from his reply that something is now to be done in this matter?

Mr. Butler

I am aware of the two cases, one of which was answered at Question Time today by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for War and one of which was raised by the hon. Lady, which brought this subject to the fore. What my Answer means, on behalf of the Prime Minister, is that we are now looking at the whole question again. The hon. Lady's Question deals with civilians in general. She is aware that dependants of Service families are already catered for. This raises the broader question of the civilian abroad, the question of the interrelation of Government Departments and their responsibility and the question of how to deal with civilians abroad. I could give no definite undertaking of what result the inquiry will have. We think the matter sufficiently serious for immediate examination.

Mr. H. A. Price

Is my right hon. Friend aware that a constituent of mine, a captain home from Cyprus after three years' service there, has been debited with £96 in respect of treatment in the British Military Hospital, Nicosia, for his mother-in-law, who was in Cyprus as a dependent relative? Does not my right hon. Friend feel that such a bill should be met either by the War Office or the National Health Service?

Mr. Butler

If my hon. Friend will submit that case, I will see that it is considered in the proper quarter.

Mr. Price

Thank you very much