§ 46. Dr. Grayasked the Secretary of State for Social Services when the new general hospital to be built on the Yarmouth-Lowestoft coastal strip will be ready for use.
§ Mr. CrossmanThere has been no change in the East Anglian Regional Hospital Board's hospital plan—Cmnd. 3000—which stated that the provision of a district general hospital for the Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft area would be a later development in the region. But since the board has not included this hospital in its current programme I cannot give a date for its construction.
§ Dr. GrayMy right hon. Friend will remember that the Paper mentioned 1975. I hope that he will be able to give us a much earlier date, in view of the urgent needs of this area and its rural hinterland, the large distances that serious medical cases like coronaries will have to travel and the lives that would be saved if a district general hospital was there.
§ Mr. CrossmanI shall bear my hon. Friend's pressure in mind—it is a very vigorous and useful pressure—but I cannot give him any further information, because we do not give firm dates until a hospital is in the current programme.