§ 19. Mr. Turtonasked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether he is aware of the lack of beds in hospitals for old people living in Ryedale and that patients at present are being accommodated in hospitals far from their homes; and how he proposes to alleviate this situation.
§ Mr. CrossmanThe prime objective of hospital care of old people should be rehabilitation and return to the community. It is essential that such care should be supervised by experts and conducted by a qualified team, working in properly developed centres with full facilities. An inevitable consequence of providing this level of care is that those living remote from these centres will not be near their homes when in hospital. This is not a new situation for the Ryedale area, which has never had geriatric beds.
§ Mr. TurtonIs not the number of geriatric and chronic sick beds per 1,000 of population in the area of this hospital management committee less than half the number in many urban areas? This is causing very grave hardship and inhumanity to old people. In view of this, will the right hon. Gentleman reconsider the decision announced in the Answer to Question No. 18?
§ Mr. CrossmanI ask the right hon. Gentleman to be quite fair. I think that he has given the figures correctly for beds in geriatric wards of hospitals. I made a special study to see what the provision for old people's homes was in the area and found that there the accommodation was by no means inadequate by average. As I said in the previous Answer, if we are to have modern geriatric hospitals one of the inevitable disadvantages of the greater efficiency will be the distance to be travelled to get to a good geriatric hospital.
§ Mr. TurtonOn a point of order. In view of the unsatisfactory nature of the reply, I beg leave to give notice I will raise the matter on the Adjournment.