HC Deb 11 December 1985 vol 88 cc911-2
6. Mr. Robin Cook

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he is satisfied with progress on the West Lothian district general hospital.

Mr. John MacKay

The first phase of the hospital should be completed in spring 1988. Discussions are continuing between the Scottish Home and health Department and Lothian health board about phase 2.

Mr. Cook

Will the Minister confirm that he may have created a misleading impression in the House on 19 June when he assured me and my hon. Friend the Member for Linlithgow (Mr. Dalyell) that the hospital would include a paediatric ward, although the Lothian health board had already resolved to put the ward into cold storage? I welcome the pressure that the Minister has applied to the board to give substance to his assurance by restoring the paediatric ward. Does he agree that it would be plain daft if the hospital were unable to cater for the health of the fifth of the population of the new town who are of paediatric age?

Mr. MacKay

The design for phase 1 of the hospital, includes a 26-bed paediatric unit. The board's present plans mean that only those services provided at Bangour general hospital will be available when the first beds are opened at the new hospital. As there is no paediatric unit at Bangour hospital, the paediatric services in phase 1 will not be immediately available. For the reasons that the hon. Member has outlined, I have asked the board to consider opening the paediatric ward at the same time as the other facilities in phase 1 are commissioned.

Mr. Dalyell

Will the Minister give the board the money to do that?

Mr. MacKay

Lothian health board is one of the best financed boards, not just in Scotland, but in the United Kingdom. To give it additional money would mean taking that money away from less well financed boards. Lothian health board has enough money within its budget to fund and process the new hospital.

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton

Is my hon. Friend aware that there is a strong case for Lothian health board to be highly funded because much of the medical teaching throughout Scotland is carried out in the Lothian region?

Mr. MacKay

I have said to the hon. Member for Linlithgow (Mr. Dalyell), and I am happy to repeat to my hon. Friend, that the total Health Service funding in Lothian in 1983–84 was £350 per head. That is the third highest in Scotland. All of the factors about teaching hospitals and so on are taken into account in the formula on which the allocation to health boards is decided.