§ 30. Mr. Youngerasked the Secretary of State for Scotland whether he will now 2096 alter his revised Hospital Plan for Scotland, to bring forward the building of the South Ayrshire Hospital so that it may be started before 1970.
§ Mr. RossNo, Sir. I am sorry that I am unable, at present, to find a place in the hospital building programme before 1970 for this particular project which was deferred by the previous administration in 1964.
§ Mr. YoungerCould the right hon. Gentleman confirm that he was specifically asked by the Western Regional Hospital Board to include these projects in this revised Hospital Plan? Does he not agree that it is incredible, after all that he and his right hon. Friends have said about the original postponement, that they have not had the courage to put it back now?
§ Mr. RossOn the first point, the answer is, "Yes". The answer we gave to the board was that we were tied by the amount of capital investment available for hospitals in Scotland. That is the reason why it was dropped in the first place and why I cannot perform miracles and put this one in. We suggested to the regional hospital board that, if it was prepared to drop out something else and give priority to this, it could do it, but it was not prepared to do that.