§ 48. Dr. Summerskillasked the Minister of Health whether he will make a statement with regard to the future of the Occupational Health Unit at the Central Middlesex Hospital.
§ Mr. Walker-SmithThis matter is under consideration by the North West Metropolitan Regional Hospital Board, with whom I am in close touch, and I hope that a decision will be reached very shortly.
§ Dr. SummerskillMay I ask the right hon. and learned Gentleman to regard this effort favourably? Does he recall that this was a pioneering effort, certainly financed by the Nuffield Trust, but given the blessing of one of his predecessors? So I am sure it would be in the interests of the whole country if he would see that this unit does remain alive.
§ Mr. Walker-SmithI quite agree with the force of the right hon. Lady's point. The fact is that I am in a statutory difficulty here. The work of this unit consists in broadly equal parts of three components, hospital service work, research work, and work for the development of 28 group industrial health services in local factories. I have power to finance the first two under the National Health Service Act, but not the third. That is my difficulty, which I am trying to overcome.