HC Deb 07 July 1969 vol 786 cc930-2
3. Mrs. Renée Short

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many of the private nursing homes relicensed at the end of April for the termination of pregnancy operation for two months only have now been reexamined and found to be up to standard and given a new licence accordingly.

Mr. Crossman

Approval of the Lang-ham Street Clinic; The Avenue Clinic, St. John's Wood; St. Mary's Nursing Home, Hendon; and the Old Court Clinic, Ealing, has been renewed until 27th April, 1970. Approval of the West Hampstead (Private) Clinic and the Heywood Clinic, Stanmore, has been given for six and two months respectively. Further approval will depend on satisfactory completion of structural work now in progress at these two establishments.

Approval of the Lady Margaret Nursing Home, Ealing, has also been given for two months only, pending the completion of inquiries following the coroner's inquest into a recent death at the home and subject to improvements in record keeping.

Mrs. Short

Presumably, my right hon. Friend is satisfied that all the homes that have now been approved are up to standard and capable of meeting an obvious need. Will he bear in mind that many of the rumours of charter flights from abroad and the pressure from abroad on these facilities are propaganda being used by opponents of the Act who want to press him and the House into taking certain action? Nevertheless, will he keep a close eye on all these establishments and, if he feels that there are any abuses, take a tough line with those responsible?

Mr. Crossman

I have taken an extremely tough line. I must make it clear to my hon. Friend that my job is to see that the establishments are properly kept and that I am not concerned with what a doctor does inside an establishment, which is not my responsibility. I realise that these establishments are not always normal nursing homes and that especially strict conditions must be imposed when large numbers of operations occur in a single place.

As for people coming from abroad, over the weekend I have written to each of these nursing homes asking for immediate information about whether this is true. I have had only one answer. This is from the nursing home at Stan-more, which say that it knows nothing about it. I would take a grave view if any of these rumours were true, but I agree with my hon. Friend that that is not very likely. I have no evidence of this kind of mass immigration. Indeed, the figures of notifications which I gave for one quarter of the year seemed to indicate the actual proportion of the number arriving from abroad.

Mr. St. John-Stevas

Is it not a little optimistic of the Secretary of State to think that those who are operating rackets will give accurate replies to his letter? In the circumstances of great public alarm and high public controversy, would not the best solution be for the Minister to appoint an impartial committee representing all points of view to investigate what is going on?

Mr. Crossman

It is a lot to suggest, when asking about a particular fact, that the responsible people running the nursing homes will tell me lies. It is important to observe that the operating doctors are required by the Act to notify each case in detail to my medical officers. I have watched this carefully, and it would be extremely serious if they did not notify in detail. So it would be wrong to assume that if they all denied that it was true it was not merely an exaggerated story. As for the idea that we need further investigation, I do not think that that is true. We really need a sense of proportion, and people should not write and publish with enormous emphasis stories based upon such a small amount of fact as I thought these stories were.

Mr. William Hamilton

Will my right hon. Friend assure the House that he will resist all attempts to amend the existing legislation along the lines suggested by the hon. Member for Chelmsford (Mr. St. John-Stevas), because, clearly, the facts have not yet been established, other than the scaremongering which has appeared in the Press?

Mr. Crossman

The legislative intentions of the hon. Gentleman he will perhaps disclose to me later, and we shall judge them on their merits. However, it would be most unwise to amend the Act yet. I have no reason to believe that the Act is not working well throughout the Health Service. There are minor difficulties which can be remedied. In a very small segment of the private sector concentrated in London, over which I have no control, things are taking place of which I do not approve and neither does the medical profession. But they do not prove that the Act needs amending.

Mr. David Steel

Will the right hon. Gentleman remind hon. Members that those who use extravagant phrases like London being "the abortion capital of the world" cannot be surprised if some foreigners then take them at their word?

Mr. Crossman

That is a fair point. If things are taking place inside these homes which conflict with the spirit of the law, it is not for me to deal with the doctor's conscience. It is for the doctor himself and for the medical profession's own disciplinary authorities. This is a very small group of doctors. It would be extremely grave if such a small group were to discredit what I think is a considerable reform.