HC Deb 19 October 1992 vol 212 cc191-3
6. Mr. Richards

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales when he next plans to visit Clwyd to discuss hospital provision; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Gwilym Jones

My right hon. Friend has no plans to do so at present, but I am hoping to visit Ysbyty Glan Clwyd next month.

Mr. Richards

Is my hon. Friend aware that Ysbyty Glan Clwyd is one of the best hospitals in the land? When he visits it will he bear in mind that the workers, doctors and residents in the hospital's vicinity eagerly await his decision on the formation of a trust for the Glan Clwyd group of hospitals?

Mr. Jones

It would be invidious for me to agree with my hon. Friend that that hospital is the best, but I agree that it is one of Wales's very fine hospitals. Our decision on that application will be announced as soon as possible. I know that my hon. Friend looks forward to that announcement with interest.

Mr. Hanson

When the Secretary of State visits Clwyd will he consider the fact that, on 9 April, four of the five Labour Members of Parliament elected in those constituencies proposed a programme opposing opt-out hospitals? We want to oppose the opting out of hospitals in Clwyd. When the Secretary of State is in my county will he come to visit the Point of Ayr colliery in my constituency, which is closing with 1,000 job losses? Will he gain from the lessons to be learnt from meeting the mineworkers and their families, and will he learn from me that health does not just involve hospitals, but is about prevention, unemployment and other factors that matter to people—which the Government are taking away from them?

Mr. Jones

I am looking forward to visiting Clwyd next month when I shall visit Ysbyty Glan Clwyd. I assure the hon. Gentleman that his and every other representation on new trusts will be carefully considered. I can do no better than repeat the assurance that I have already made: no approvals will be given unless my right hon. Friend and I are convinced that they will be of advantage to patients.

Mr. John Marshall

When my hon. Friend speaks of hospital provision, will he confirm that NHS hospital trusts now treat many more patients than they did 18 months ago? Is that not a sign of progress and should we not praise the work of the trusts instead of denigrating it?

Mr. Jones

I could not agree more with my hon. Friend's sentiments. There is only one example of a trust in Wales, the Pembrokeshire trust. After its first four months, the Pembrokeshire trust is already showing worthwhile increases of both in-patients and out-patients. Such progress should be hailed.

Mrs. Clwyd

In making hospital provision, does the Welsh Office recognise the link between unemployment and ill health? Is the hon. Gentleman going to make provision for the massive number of unemployed who will come on stream in Wales due to Government policies? Does he recognise that 25 per cent. of the Rhondda's population is permanently sick—three times the number of permanently sick in the Prime Minister's constituency of Huntingdon? Does the hon. Gentleman recognise what unemployment does both to the unemployed and to their families, and how it causes ill health among those families? Will he recognise that important fact and make provision for it?

Mr. Jones

I can reassure the hon. Lady that that provision is already in place in the strategies for health that we are implementing well in Wales. The importance of trying to make health gains among vulnerable groups is already identified as a specific target on which we are determined to make progress.