§ 4. Mr. Norman Hoggasked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make a statement on the number of hospital beds currently unused in each health area.
§ Mr. FairgrieveThis information is not available centrally. There are many reasons for hospital beds not being in use at any one time. It would be difficult and costly to collect this information from health boards on a consistent basis.
§ Mr. HoggHow does the Minister justify such a disgraceful reply —in fact, not a reply at all? What steps is he taking to ensure that Health Service facilities are available to those who are sick?
§ Mr. Fairgrieve; The policy that is the basis of what the hon. Gentleman describes as a disgraceful reply is exactly the same policy as that which the previous Government carried out. We are ensuring that National Health Service 1008 facilities are provided by giving health boards more money in real terms than they received under the previous Government.
§ Mr. MylesIs my hon. Friend aware of the concern in the Dufftown area about the provision of geriatric care?
§ Mr. FairgrieveWe are well aware of that. That is why the Grampian board has suggested, although it has met a certain amount of local opposition, that some maternity beds should come out of service and be turned into geriatric beds.
§ Mr. Harry EwingWhy did the Minister come to the House so badly briefed? Is he not aware that he wrote to me on 18 February giving me the figures that he has just told my hon. Friend the Member for Dunbartonshire, East (Mr. Hogg) are not centrally available? Those figures show that there are nearly 400 beds in seven health boards out of use because of lack of funds. Why on earth did he not tell my hon. Friend that?
§ Mr. FairgrieveI regret to say that the hon. Member for Stirling, Falkirk and Grangemouth (Mr. Ewing) has got it wrong again. That is becoming quite a habit with him. When I wrote to him earlier this year I gave him figures of beds that were out of use for financial reasons. There are many other reasons for beds being out of use. For financial reasons there were 296 out of use, about 0.5 per cent. of the number of beds in Scotland.
§ Mr. LangWill my hon. Friend confirm that all sectors of the Health Service in Scotland are enjoying increased Government expenditure, both capital and current, in real terms, and that this is growing at a faster rate than it is in England and Wales?
§ Mr. FairgrieveMy hon. Friend is correct.
§ Dr. J. Dickson MabonIs it not true that in Argyll and Clyde health board area, where Inverclyde is one quarter, we have waiting lists equal to those of the other three-quarters, yet for financial reasons 70 beds are out of action? Is it not a disgrace and a false economy that so many people have to wait for so-called cold surgery operations and so on, thus being deprived of work and earnings—all because of foolishness by the Government
§ Mr. FairgrieveThe right hon. Gentleman, as he lives there, must know that during the building of Inverclyde Royal hospital the population of Argyll declined so much that with the 70 new beds closed it still has the Scottish average of beds per 1,000 patients.