HC Deb 03 June 1986 vol 98 cc715-6
1. Mr. Janner

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he has any plans to increase resources for hospital, nursing and ancillary geriatric services for Leicestershire; and if he will make a statement.

5. Mr. Latham

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether he will make a statement on the funding of the National Health Service in Leicestershire.

The Minister for Health (Mr. Barney Hayhoe)

In real terms the 1986–87 Hospital and Community Health Services revenue allocation to Leicestershire is 34 per cent. higher than the 1978–79 expenditure. There has also been significant real terms growth in funding for the family practitioner services. In Leicestershire, as in the country as a whole, the development of services for the elderly has a high priority and there are plans for a substantial additional investment in these services.

Mr. Janner

I welcome the plans to which the Minister referred. However, will he please be specific as to the provision of geriatric beds, of which we are desperately short, to the extent that a constitutent of mine, about whom I shall write to the Minister, would probably be alive today had there been a bed for him? Will he undertake to conduct an inquiry into that case when I write to him, and will he give us details so that the people of Leicestershire may have some hope of real improvement in geriatric care?

Mr. Hayhoe

I am glad that the hon. and learned Gentleman at least acknowledged the substantial increase in real resources which has been directed to Leicestershire during the lifetime of this Government. In 1985–86 there has been a temporary reduction in geriatric beds due to repair and upgrading work, as I think the hon. and learned Gentleman knows. However, 37 beds at Leicestershire General will be back in use soon, and a massive injection of resources is planned for the period up to 1993–94—a 42 per cent. increase in revenue and about £33 million worth of capital development—for services specifically for the elderly. Total manpower, including trained nurses and professions allied to medicine, is increasing and they will all make their contribution to improve services for the elderly in the hon. and learned Gentleman's constituency.

Mr. Latham

Is my right hon. Friend aware that the RAWP formula helped to raise Leicestershire from a miserable 75 per cent. of the national average in 1974 to 93 per cent. last year? Will he give an assurance that if the RAWP formula is discontinued in order to help London he will find some other clear method to help Leicestershire get to the national average by 1993?

Mr. Hayhoe

My hon. Fr-tend is right to draw attention to the way in which the RAWP formula has led to a significant improvement in the relative position of Leicestershire and the Trent region. The Trent region has received a real increase of 27 per cent. in its hospital and community health services revenue, whereas the average for England has been 20 per cent. and, as my hon. Friend acknowledged, in the Thames region it has been only 13 per cent. I can assure my hon. Friend that the Government remain committed to the principles of RAWP, but they are properly reviewing the criteria, looking especially at matters such as inner city deprivation, the particular requirements of teaching hospitals, and so on, so that the RAWP formula is properly based.

Mr. Dobson

If Leicestershire has been benefiting so substantially from the Government's policies, why are 7,582 people there waiting for hospital treatment an increase, and why are 1,088 women waiting for gynaecological treatment in Leicestershire?

Mr. Hayhoe

Just think what the position would have been if the resources available to Leicestershire had remained at the level that we inherited from the previous Government. It would be very much worse than it is at present.

Mr. Ashby

We have an excellent cottage hospital in Ashby de la Zouch, which at present has only five beds for maternity cases. Will my right hon. Friend give an assurance that it will remain open and available for the people of Ashby?

Mr. Hayhoe

I would certainly give considerable attention to any representations from my hon. Friend.