2. Mr. R. C. Mitchellasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many elderly people are waiting for entry to geriatric beds in the Wessex Regional Hospital Board area.
§ The Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Security (Mr. Michael Alison)343 at 30th April 1973.
Mr. MitchellIs the Minister aware that almost every regional hospital board has a long waiting list not only for geriatric beds but for cold surgery, dental treatment for handicapped people and a host of other things? Why do not the Government divert just some of the money that they propose to waste on Maplin towards improving National Health Service facilities?
§ Mr. AlisonWe have made very sharp increases in the capital allocations to regional hospital boards to improve the service in this, above all, of the very many capital needs in the hospital service.
Mr. S. James A. HillIs my hon. Friend aware that in the Southampton area the building strike of last year had a very serious effect on the provision of hospital beds and that in some way that may have been a cause of this problem?
§ Mr. AlisonI am glad to say that the waiting list for the area covered by 347 the Southampton Hospital Management Committee has, in this category, fallen in recent months.