HC Deb 21 June 1977 vol 933 cc1085-7
9. Mr. Whitehead

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what further steps he will take to bring about an equalisation of resources available to the Trent Regional Health Authority as against other regional hospital authority areas in England.

Mr. Moyle

The Government are committed to achieving a fairer distribution of resources between health regions in England and will seek to redistribute funds in favour of deprived regions, such as the Trent Region, as quickly as is consistent with the preservation of important services in other regions. In the current year Trent received an increase in revenue funds equal to 2.94 per cent., compared to 0.25 per cent. to 0.40 per cent. for the Thames Region and Oxford.

Mr. Whitehead

Should not those figures, and the comparison with the Thames Region, be set against the disparity that at the moment gives the Thames Region 70 per cent. more medical and dental staff, 30 per cent. more nurses and only one-third as many people waiting for more than a year for general surgery? Is it not true that at the rate of progress we are making towards equalisation it will be a whole generation before the despair and demoralisation in the Trent Region is worn away? Is that satisfactory?

Mr. Moyle

I am not prepared to redistribute resources away from the London Region at a rate that will damage the teaching facilities there, because that would be damaging the seed corn for the future. My hon. Friend's comments about the rate of equalisation between various parts of the country were extremely pessimistic, and I would not like to stand by them.

Mr. Cyril Smith

I accept the need for resources in the Trent authority, but is the Minister aware of the needs of the North-West authority, particularly in relation to the rate of pay for ambulance men and the need of the authority to meet that rate of pay? Is there any truth in the rumour that the Minister has taken out a court injunction to prevent the unions from appearing before the Central Arbitration Committee? If there is no truth in that, since it has been widely reported in the Northern Press will he take this opportunity to deny it?

Mr. Moyle

The second part of the hon. Member's question is without foundation. The first part does not relate to the Trent region, or its health authority, but I take this opportunity to point out that the North-West Regional Health Authority has had the largest growth in funds of any region—3.2 per cent.

Mr. Woodall

Is my right hon. Friend aware of the severe shortage of psycho-geriatrics facilities in the Trent Region, particularly in the Sheffield-Barnsley-Rotherham area? Recently I had to seek the good offices of the Wakefield area in the York Region in order to find a hospital bed for a constituent. In that case, every medical opinion that was sought recommended hospitalisation, but a bed could not be found in the area designated.

Mr. Moyle

There is a shortage of facilities in the Trent Regional Health Authority. That is why we are putting a disproportionate amount of resources into that authority, compared with others. The shortage of psycho-geriatric beds is a national problem. I have visited the area referred to by my hon. Friend and have looked at the problem there.

Mr. Finsberg

Will the Minister resist the temptation to introduce proposals to ruin the provisions for the hospital service in the London area and thus make it impossible to persuade people to come here from overseas for training and as patients?

Mr. Moyle

We must reconcile the desire to move quickly to a fairer distribution with the need to allow the better-off regions more time to make their plans for rationalisation and redeployment of their resources, and the freedom to manouvre. We must be careful to see that funds are not moved so quickly that it will do irreparable damage to the provision of clinical teaching facilities in the better-off regions.

Mr. Boscawen

Will the Minister make sure that there is no detriment to the better-off regions because they are more efficient and wise in the use of their resources?

Mr. Moyle

This is not a matter of wisdom or efficiency: it is a matter of historical favouritism. Obviously, I want to look after the teaching facilities in London and see that they are not damaged.