§ 3 and 55. Mr. Loveridgeasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) how many offenders of known violent record, either through the courts or from medical records, have been committed each year to conventional mental hospitals since the introduction of Section 60 of the Mental Health Act 1959;
(2) if he will give figures to show the effect of the Mental Health Act 1959 in relation to the numbers of persons of known violent record admitted to conventional mental hospitals before and after this Act came into effect.
§ The Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Security (Mr. Michael Alison)I regret that the information is not available.
§ Mr. LoveridgeI am sorry to hear that. Is my hon. Friend aware that there are increasing anxieties at the reported 209 number of attacks on nurses in conventional mental hospitals? Will he seek, therefore, to alter the legislation which allows the committal of those with known violent record to serve in such conventional mental hospitals?
§ Mr. AlisonI accept the need for further guidance for regional hospital boards on the care of violent patients in psychiatric hospitals, but my hon. Friend and the nurses to whom he refers will note that a working party of the Royal College of Nursing and the Royal College of Psychiatrists has commented recently that acts of violence in hospitals occur only infrequently.