Mentally Handicapped Patients (Hansard, 27 January 1982)

§ 8. Mr. Canavan
asked the Secretary of State for Scotland whether he is satisfied with the standard of hospital provision for mentally handicapped patients in Scotland.

§ The Under-Secretary of State for Scotland (Mr. Allan Stewart)
Although many improvements have taken place at these hospitals in recent years, my right hon. Friend told health boards in 1980, following recommendations by the Scottish Health Service Planning Council, that services for the mentally handicapped should be in the group of services deserving top priority in the allocation of resources. We recently announced arrangements for monitoring boards' progress in implementing these recommendations.

§ Mr. Canavan
In view of the recent SHAS report on Lennox Castle hospital, which states that over 1, 300 mentally handicapped patients are living in grossly overcrowded and insanitary conditions, some of them in huts that were built over 40 years ago and were supposed to last only 5 to 10 years, will the Minister take urgent and immediate steps to provide the additional finance and other resources? Does he agree that this background is a damning indictment of the National Health Service's inadequacies? In particular, will he take steps immediately to provide the additional 100 nursing staff necessary to raise standards at Lennox Castle hospital even to the average for hospitals that cater for some of the most underprivileged but most deserving members of society?

§ Mr. Stewart
The Government accept that the SHAS report identified a number of unsatisfactory features at Lennox Castle hospital. In the first instance, this is a matter for the Greater Glasgow health board. We shall await its comments, although we keep in close touch with it. I understand that it is the health board's intention to phase out the unsatisfactory accommodation to which the hon. Gentleman referred. I am glad to be able to tell the hon. Gentleman that the number of qualified qualified nursing staff at the hospital has increased by 14 percent. in the past two years.

§ Mr. Henderson
Is my hon. Friend aware that the extension of hospital building that the Government announced last year was warmly welcomed in Fife, although there is continuing anxiety about psychiatric nurse recruitment, especially among males? In view of that, is my hon. Friend surprised that letters from the chairman of the medical committee of Stratheden hospital and myself to Fife health board on this very subject since July 1981 have met a stone wall of indifference and silence from the board? Will he use his good offices to get a better response than that?

§ Mr. Stewart
The Government place a high priority on recruiting and retaining skilled nursing staff and on increasing the proportion of male nursing staff in mental hospitals. If my hon. Friend cares to let me have the details in writing of the issue that he has raised, I shall consider them.

§ Mr. William Hamilton
Will the Minister extend the review to include all the rights of the mentally handicapped? A Bill that is passing through the House deals with mental health in England. When can we expect similar legislation to cover the well-known and well-publicised shortcomings confronting mental health patients in Scotland?

§ Mr. Stewart
I know of the Gentleman's interest in these matters. He will remember that we had an Adjournment debate before Christmas on one aspect of the general subject that he has raised. I have said that my right hon. Friend will be introducing legislation at an appropriate time to deal with the decision of the European Court of Human Rights on detained patients.

§ Sir Hector Monro
Is my hon. Friend aware that one of the premier hospitals for the mentally handicapped is the Crichton Royal at Dumfries? Will he consider as sympathetically as possible the plans of the area health board to provide accommodation for the adolescent mentally handicapped so that parents in South-West Scotland do not have to travel to Larbert to see their children?

§ Mr. Stewart
I accept the general point that my hon. Friend is making. There are plans for new units at Dumfries and these will be considered sympathetically.

§ Mr. Harry Ewing
Does the Minister accept that hospitals such as Lennox Castle and, to some extent, Larbert are far too large? Why do not the Government embark upon a programme of building new hospitals to reduce the size of existing hospitals and to provide decent conditions for patients and staff? Does the hon. Gentleman accept that that is the only answer to the disgraceful problem that has been revealed at Lennox Castle and elsewhere?

§ Mr. Stewart
The SHAS stated in its report that it had produced similar reports in 1974 and 1977. It referred to the absence of sufficient action by the Labour Government in the light of those reports. The current capital programme of about £20 million will provide a total of 900 new beds in Scotland.