HC Deb 06 March 1961 vol 636 cc34-6
46. Mr. Dodds

asked the Minister of Heath on what date the 14-year-old girl, details of whom have been provided by the hon. Member for Erith and Cray-ford, was sent to the Warlingham Park Mental Hospital and placed in an adult ward with compulsorily detained elderly patients; and, in view of the unsatisfactory position of this girl, what action is being taken to ensure that she is removed to more satisfactory surroundings with as little delay as possible.

Mr. Powell

On 31st August last. She is in an open ward where the staff are specially skilled in dealing with her kind of case, and most of the patients are young or middle-aged. She has responded well to treatment and is expected shortly to go to another hospital for a course of training.

Mr. Dodds

Is the Minister aware that she went there when she was 14 years of age, and there are no educational facilities there? Further, is he aware that the head of the Kent County Council Welfare Department has said that it was lamentable that there were no facilities suitable for a girl like this and the doctors share his concern that it was necessary to place her in a ward with adults? What does the Minister mean by writing to say that a girl can often benefit from being with older women? Does he not appreciate that, although this might be true if the older women were sane, this girl has been with elderly women in a ward who would cry out at night, and is it not deplorable that a young girl should be put in conditions like that?

Mr. Powell

Of the patients in that ward last November, seven were 21 years of age and under, ten were between 21 and 35, and only eight were over 50 years of age. The hon. Member will be aware that treatment in wards of patients with a wide variety of ages can in some cases be both satisfactory and successful, and in this instance it has proved so.

Mr. Dodds

But is not the Minister aware that this young girl complains of swearing in the ward and that the elderly patients who are compulsorily detained cry out at night? I pay a tribute to the nurses and doctors who really feel that she should not be in the ward and who have done the best they can for her.

Mr. Powell

I am glad that the hon. Member paid that tribute to the doctors. It was the opinion of those doctors that she was best treated in this ward.

Mr. Dodds

No.