§ 11. Mr. Hal Millerasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what further consultations he has held since July with the medical profession about the availability and accessibility of alternative private facilities before pay beds are phased out of the National Health Service.
§ Mr. EnnalsIn August I invited health authorities to consult interested parties locally and submit any additional nor new evidence relating to the reduction of pay beds as contained in Schedule 2 of the Health Services Act. On the basis of these consultations certain amendments were made to the schedule.
§ Mr. MillerWhy did the Secretary of State not give that reply on Third Reading?
§ Mr. EnnalsI gave a great deal of information during Third Reading, but at that stage the Health Services Act had not become law.
§ Dr. VaughanWill the Secretary of State now try to explain to the House how he can carry on meaningful discussions when his own Minister of State admitted the other day that he does not know how many NHS beds have been 678 closed in the past six months, how many beds are planned to be turned over to administrators, or what the effect will be on nurse employment?
§ Mr. EnnalsNone of those situations exists. Of course, my hon. Friend can give no exact figure of the effect on nursing employment, because we have to decide exactly at what speed within the next six months those 1,000 beds shall go. Now that the Bill is passed, it is my responsibility to start speeding up the closure of those beds. The rate at which they go in the course of the next six months is a matter on which I cannot make a statement at the moment. But I can tell the hon. Gentleman that I shall be writing to health authorities almost immediately about the arrangements for effecting the separation of the first 1,000 beds.