§ 5. Mr. Tim Rentonasked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether she will publish a Green Paper on a future 220 programme for hospital building in England and Wales.
§ Dr. OwenNo, Sir. Hospital building is merely one facet in the development of health services. We hope to publish later this year a consultative document, which will provide background material for choosing priorities for the health and personal social services.
§ Mr. RentonWill the Minister reconsider that reply? Is it not a fact that due to the cuts in public spending there are now likely to be substantial delays in hospital building which will affect, amongst others, the people in Mid-Sussex? Would it not be far better for area health authorities and regional health authorities to know where they stand in this matter, rather than for people to believe that there is a new hospital round the corner when there is not?
§ Dr. OwenI very much agree with the hon. Gentleman that there is a need for more realism in the hospital building programme. I believe that we have to review the capital expenditure figures, as we have already done. But I am against looking at the hospital capital building programme in isolation from, for instance, the priorities we have just been discussing for mentally handicapped and mentally ill hospitals.
§ Mr. SpeakerMr. Raphael Tuck.
§ Mr. Raphael TuckMay I thank all hon. Members for the warm welcome home they have given me, and say how glad I am to be back home again.
Is my hon. Friend aware that at the Watford General Hospital there is a tremendous waiting list for operations, which is growing month by month? As the Government have not been able to implement the original plan to rebuild the hospital, will my hon. Friend at least consider providing an additional operating theatre, which would somewhat lighten the burden?
§ Dr. OwenIf my hon. Friend is right and an operating theatre would lighten the burden and reduce waiting lists, I hope that the area health authority will approach the regional health authority. For the first year ever, the Government have made available £5 million specially 221 earmarked for the reduction of waiting lists, in the belief that such facilities as my hon. Friend described can do something considerable about waiting lists when we cannot build new hospitals.
§ Mrs. KnightCould the Minister produce an interim declaration of intent about vitally urgent hospital building? Is he aware that the radiotherapy unit at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham daily constitutes a severe health hazard to patients and medical technicians, due to the cessation of development work in the hospital?
§ Dr. OwenI think that the hon. Lady is not quite correct. I believe that because of stringent safety precautions taken in the hospital there is no threat, but the facilities in which those concerned operate are less than adequate. I am afraid that this is a fairly familiar picture. We have reviewed the expenditure implications for this year and next year. Regional health authorities are conducting a survey of all their hospital building programmes, and they hope before the end of the year to be able to present a plan on which we shall be able to make steady progress over the next few years.
§ Mr. LoydenMay I draw my hon. Friend's attention to the need to explore some of the difficulties in the current hospital building programme, particularly as it relates to the Liverpool Teaching Hospital? Grave concern is being expressed because of the lack of information on the future of the hospital.
§ Dr. OwenI shall gladly furnish my hon. Friend with details about that hospital building project. I share his concern. It is late, and it has been extremely expensive. It is one of the projects causing the most anxiety at present.