Teaching and Acute Services (London)

HC Deb 25 March 1980 vol 981 cc1152-3

5. Mr. Dubs

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services, what representations he has received regarding the Flowers report and the report of the London Health Planning Consortium.

Dr. Vaughan

I have received comments on these reports from a variety of sources. But I have made it clear that the Flowers report is a matter for the University of London and that I will not intervene in the issues raised by the report of the London Health Planning Consortium during the process of consultation which is now under way.

Mr. Dubs

Does the hon. Gentleman accept that the two reports concern only teaching services and acute services in the London area. Will he give an undertaking that he will study, or have studied in detail, other aspects of the Health Service in London before any final decision is made about the future of the Health Service in the metropolis?

Dr. Vaughan

Yes, of course. We wish to examine the whole of the Health Service in London. For that reason we have extended the remit of the London Health Planning Consortium to consider primary health care.

Mr. Burden

Is my hon. Friend aware that the Health Planning Consortium has proposed the closure of the radiotherapy department at St. William's hospital, Rochester? Is he further aware that the proposal is causing grave disquiet in the area? Will he give an undertaking that he will soon be able to say that this closure will not take place?

Dr. Vaughan

I can understand my hon. Friend's concern. It is an issue that we shall consider carefully.

Mr. Pavitt

Does the Minister accept that it will be intolerable if the Flowers report is implemented by the university in isolation from any influence of his Department? If we close 34 London medical schools and keep only six, the inevitable consequences upon allied health care and provision will have an effect on every patient in the London area. It will be especially intolerable if Westminster hospital is closed to hon. Members.

Dr. Vaughan

I regret that the hon. Gentleman is constantly being alarmist. We are dealing only with the recommendations of the Flowers committee, which is a working party of the university. We must wait to hear what the university feels about the recommendations. We are setting up urgently a London advisory group to co-ordinate the recommendations that are put to us.

Mr. Aitken

Will my hon. Friend take note that there will be great hostility from all parts of the House if centres of medical excellence, such as the teaching facility at the Westminster hospital, are closed?

Dr. Vaughan

I share my hon. Friend's anxiety about any proposal affecting our great London teaching centres. I can assure him that we shall consider any such proposal with great care.

Mr. Moyle

Does the London Health Planning Consortium's report and the Flowers committee report have any advice to give to the hon. Gentleman on what to do about the Merton, Wandsworth and Sutton area health authority, which I gather is over £4½ million overspent? Does not that put it in the Lambeth, Southwark and Lewisham class? What will he do about it? Would not he be wise to ease the strain under which the London health service is working by setting up an inquiry into the London health service as recommended by the report of the Royal Commission?

Dr. Vaughan

The right hon. Gentleman knows that in our view an inquiry would be a recipe for further delay. The issues are now well known and most of them have been extensively studied. We do not believe that another inquiry is needed. We need action to overcome the problems—and that is something that our predecessors never undertook.