HC Deb 09 June 1986 vol 99 cc6-7
4. Mr. Livsey

asked the Secretary of State for Wales if he will make a statement on the reorganisation of mental health care in Powys.

Mr. Mark Robinson

Planning the reorganisation of mental health care in Powys is primarily the responsibility of Powys healh authority, in consultation with Powys county council where care in the community is involved.

Mr. Livsey

I accept that care in the community is extremely important for the elderly, hut does the Minister not accept that increasing numbers of elderly people will be living in Powys in the future and that they will require greater resource funding? The proposals contained in the recently published health report for Powys show that beds for the long-term and acutely mentally ill at the Mid-Wales hospital, Talgarth will probably amount to 80. We believe that this is far too low a number for expert treatment of the acutely mentally ill and that the level should be held at 200, because in that hospital there is a 95 per cent. discharge rate of those patients within 12 months.

Mr. Robinson

The hon. Gentleman has asked two questions. It was precisely for that reason that my right hon. Friend announced an initiative for the elderly, during the proceedings on this subject in the Welsh Grand Committee, that amounts to additional resources of between £1 million and £5 million over the next three years, and Powys will be a beneficiary.

As for the mental illness services and the mental handicap strategy in Powys, the Government have introduced a comprehensive 10-year policy and extra resources are being made available. For Powys, they amount to £215,000 in the current year.

Mr. Rogers

In any reorganisation of mental health care in Powys, will the Minister ensure that any clinical trials of drugs are carried out strictly in accordance with the protocol that has been arrived at between the BMA, the medical profession and the DHSS? In ensuring that these trials are properly carried out in hospitals, perhaps he will apply better standards there than he seems to care about for trials that take place outside hospitals.

Mr. Robinson

Drug trials are a matter for the medical profession and the BMA.

Mr. Wigley

In relation to the substantial pressure on the community in Powys if people are moved, as they should be, from long-stay hospitals into the community, will the Minister give an assurance that additional resources will be provided, over and above those that have been earmarked for mental handicap services, for mental illness services in Powys?

Mr. Robinson

Once again, in terms of our mental illness strategy, we are prepared to look at projects that are put to us by health authorities, and funding can be made available.

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