§ 32. Mr. K. Robinsonasked the Minister of Health what initial steps he proposes to take in furtherance of his recently announced policy on mental hospitals.
§ Mr. PowellI shall shortly be sending to hospital authorities a memorandum about the planning of services for the mentally ill.
§ Mr. RobinsonIs the Minister aware that the policy to get rid of out-of-date mental hospitals, which we welcome in principle, has nevertheless given rise to some fears and misgivings on the part of the existing staffs of those hospitals, and will he, therefore, give two assurances, first of all, that there will be plenty of work for all existing staffs to do whatever the setting in which mental patients are treated, as far ahead as one can see, and secondly, that Exchequer moneys will be freely available to develop psychiatric units in or attached to general hospitals?
§ Mr. PowellI certainly recognise the importance of the psychiatric units in general hospitals and I shall expect those to feature in the long-term plans which are coming forward in the course of the year. Although the method and the place of mental treatment will, I hope, change rapidly over the years, I have no reason to suppose that there will be any diminution in the amount of effort which has to be devoted to it.