§ 27 and 28. Mr. Abseasked the Minister of Health (1) whether he is satisfied that, in view of present psychiatric medical training facilities in Wales, the accommodation allowed to a psychiatric department in the new teaching hospital to be built in Cardiff will be fully deployed; and if he will make a statement;
(2) whether he is aware of the concern of the Welsh Regional Hospital Board and its Mental Health Services Committee about psychiatric medical education in Wales; and what steps he will 880 take to ensure that doctors in Wales receive adequate psychiatric training.
§ Mr. BraineMy right hon. Friend is aware of the concern expressed; it is for the university to decide on the allocation of its funds; my right hon. Friend is satisfied that the accommodation will be fully used.
§ Mr. AbseIs the Minister aware that Wales will find this a very dusty answer? Does he know that the Minister for Welsh Affairs, over the last two years, has on at least one occasion expressed a wish for a chair and department of psychiatry, and that the Welsh Regional Hospital Board has protested on at least three occasions asking for such a chair? In view of the fact that the Minister's plan for Wales, as for elsewhere, is to reduce by half the number of mental health beds, how can he hope to achieve this—since he is gambling on new therapeutic advances —without the chair and department of psychiatry that have repeatedly been demanded?
§ Mr. BraineDoctors in Wales do not have to await the setting up of a university chair of psychiatry in order to qualify for the Diploma of Psychological Medicine. They can, and do, get their training in mental hospitals. This is not an ideal situation and we would like to see some improvement. Equally, it is not peculiar to Wales. But the treatment of patients is in no wise affected.