HC Deb 04 May 1964 vol 694 cc893-5
28. Mr. Woodnutt

asked the Minister of Health if he will state the reasons for refusing to provide an invalid motor tricycle for Mr. W. Cass of 14, Partlands Avenue, Ryde; and to what extent walking ability must be impaired before a person qualifies for a vehicle.

Mr. Braine

These vehicles are provided for double-amputees (one above the knee) and others who have lost the use of their legs and are to all intents and purposes unable to walk; and to those slightly less severely disabled who need a vehicle to get to and from their work. Mr. Cass' application has been most sympathetically examined but I regret that he does not qualify in any of these categories.

Mr. Woodnutt

Is my hon. Friend aware of my complete dissatisfaction with his reply, showing, as it does, complete lack of sympathy and human understanding for this particular case? Is he aware that I have personal knowledge of Mr. Cass and that in my opinion, the opinion of his doctor, the opinion of the local Red Cross and that of his employer he should be provided with some mechanical means to enable him to go to work? Is my hon. Friend aware that Mr. Cass lost his leg at the age of 3 and that it is impossible for him to wear an artificial leg because the muscles have never developed? Is he further aware that Mr. Cass has a job to which he has to walk a mile each way every day and that if he does not get some mechanical assistance he will probably, in the opinion of his doctor, have to give up his work so that, apart from the humanitarian side, it will cost the Government more to pay him unemployment benefit and assistance than it would to provide him with an invalid chair?

Mr. Braine

My hon. Friend might have done justice by saying that he knows that I and my officers have looked into this particular case with special care. There are borderline cases, as every hon. Member of this House knows; but this gentleman, unfortunately—I think it is a pity he has been named—is not a borderline case. He can, though admittedly with difficulty, walk a mile. There are many who cannot walk so far and are unable to qualify. It is not my right hon. Friend who determines these matters. We are guided by the medical advice. I have, as my hon. Friend knows, a great deal of sympathy for Mr. Cass, but his difficulty arises mainly out of the lack of public transport between his home and his work.

Mr. Woodnutt

I beg to give notice that, in view of the unsatisfactory nature of the reply, I shall raise the matter on the Adjournment at the earliest possible opportunity.