§ 17. Mrs. Castleasked the Minister of Health if he will take steps to make facilities for the treatment of multiple sclerosis by the Le Gac method available to patients in this country under the National Health Service.
§ Miss PittI would refer the hon. Member to the reply given to the hon. Member for Accrington (Mr. H. Hynd) on 4th December.
§ Mrs. CastleIs the hon. Lady aware that that reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Accrington (Mr. H. Hynd) was totally inaccurate? Does she not remember that when I raised with her the case of a woman suffering from multiple sclerosis, whose husband wanted this treatment for his wife, the hon. Lady told me that the doctor could apply to the Ministry of Health for particulars of the facilities available? The doctor, having done so, was informed by the principal medical officer of the Department that at present there is no doctor or hospital in this country known to the Department to be using this treatment. 14 In view of this, will the hon. Lady stop misleading hon. Members and get down to providing these facilities under the National Health Service?
§ Miss PittThat is very different from saying that the treatment should be available. The question of whether a doctor is using it is another and separate question. There is nothing to prevent any doctor using this Le Gac method, as I said in reply to the previous Question.
§ Mr. H. HyndWill the hon. Lady have another look at the Answer which she gave me last week, because my constituent raised the question with me and assured me that he had been unable to get this treatment?
§ Miss PittIt is up to the doctor, not to my right hon. Friend, to say what method of treatment shall be used in a particular case. There is nothing to prevent doctors making use of the method advocated.
§ Mrs. CastleIs not the hon. Lady aware that the doctor in the case of my constituent was advised to get into touch with her Department for advice as to how he should give the treatment, what form it should take and where facilities could be sought and made available? He has had a reply from the Department which, in effect, gets him nowhere at all. Where is the doctor to turn when he wants to give the Le Gac treatment to a patient?
§ Miss PittMy Department will be able to arrange to give to any doctor the information, which has been published, about the Le Gac method of treatment, but it is for the doctor himself to say whether he wishes to use it.
§ Mr. K. RobinsonIs there not also some responsibility on the Minister to assess this treatment, to find what its value is and, if necessary, to see that the treatment is available in this country?