HC Deb 12 May 1969 vol 783 cc972-4
49. Mr. Dean

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services how much extra revenue he plans to allocate to mental hospitals in order to improve their standards.

Mr. Crossman

I have asked each regional hospital board to reconsider the distribution of revenue funds within its total regional allocation, so as to improve its psychiatric and geriatric services, especially for long-stay patients, and to report to me. This exercise will take account of variations in present standards between regions.

Mr. Dean

While welcoming the right hon. Gentleman's Answer, may I ask him to realise that the redistribution will mean robbing one part of the Service to assist another? Even if he allocates the whole of the additional £3½ million from the increased charges for teeth and spectacles, is he not aware that additional sources of revenue are urgently needed if our mental hospitals are to have the priority that they require?

Mr. Crossman

It is, of course, true that every Secretary of State would like for the National Health Service a larger slice of the available funds, but we must work within our existing budgets. I warn the hon. Gentleman that in the immediate future—that is, if he agrees with me that the hospitals for the subnormal represent a deprived area—we must plan a reallocation of priorities within the Service and not simply ask for more money which is not available.

Mr. Pavitt

While my right hon. Friend is examining the whole question of mental health and geriatrics, will he expedite the co-ordination of local, National Health Service and general practitioner services, since only by combining the operations of these three wings of the National Health Service will we solve this problem?

Mr. Crossman

I agree with my hon. Friend in theory, but the more I go round the country the more depressed I become at the failure of the services of the National Health Service on the one side and the local community services on the other to work together. Many of these services are being paid for in different ways, without adequate integration. My hon. Friend is, therefore, really speaking of a properly integrated National Health Service.

Mr. Deedes

Will the right hon. Gentleman say what his views are about extra revenue for community services for mental health outside the mental hospitals?

Mr. Crossman

I am glad that the hon. Gentleman has asked me about this. Quite frankly, the need for community-based services outside mental hospitals is at least as great as the need for investment inside. If we could get hostels for psychiatric patients outside in the community, we would be doing the real job, which is to reduce the number of people permanently resident in these long-term hospitals. I could not agree more.