Mental Health Care Hospitals (Hansard, 14 September 2004)

§ 1. Tony Baldry (Banbury) (Con)
What the Government's policy is on the optimum size of mental health care hospitals. [188501]

§ The Minister of State, Department of Health (Ms Rosie Winterton)
It is for local trusts to determine the configuration of their provision according to their assessment of the needs of their population, the range of community and residential services already in place, and the resources available to them.

§ Tony Baldry
For many years, Banbury has had residential community mental health care, but that facility is being closed and will in future be centralised in Oxford. My constituents and many people in Oxfordshire want to understand how these ever-larger mental health care units are compatible with the concept of care in the community.

§ Ms Winterton
As the hon. Gentleman knows, it is for local primary care trusts to commission appropriate services for their population needs in the light of national guidance and the resources available. Care for people with mental health needs is increasingly being provided by the crisis resolution teams, home treatment teams and assertive outreach teams that are developing in all areas. The idea is as far as possible to keep people out of hospital and to provide care in people's homes, which is where they and their carers wish to have it.

§ Dr. Brian Iddon (Bolton, South-East) (Lab)
Does my hon. Friend agree that there is a need to separate men from women and older patients from younger patients where they have incompatible lifestyles? Does she also agree that drug addicts and alcoholics can be a nuisance on wards, and that a larger hospital should be able to achieve such separations better than a smaller one?

§ Ms Winterton
I agree with my hon. Friend. Our evidence is that more than 99 per cent. of NHS trusts now provide single-sex sleeping accommodation. Obviously, 1106 patient safety is paramount, and we have recently issued further guidance on that matter. Since 1997, about £720 million has been spent on upgrading psychiatric facilities to deal with the points that my hon. Friend raises. Later this week, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State, with the Secretary of State for Education and Skills, will publish information on these issues, including children's services.

§ Sir Michael Spicer (West Worcestershire) (Con)
What is the budgeted cost of the Mental Health Bill?

§ Ms Winterton
Overall, we have spent around £300 million extra on mental health over the past three years. "Shifting the Balance of Power" provides for local primary care trusts to use the massive amount of extra investment that is being made available as they see fit within the national service framework. That investment will have increased by up to £90 billion by 2007. Within that, an extra £300 million has already been spent on mental health services, and we expect that amount to increase within the next few years.

§ Tim Loughton (East Worthing and Shoreham) (Con)
Notwithstanding the answer that the Minister gave just now, if she is taking the whole subject of hospital mental health services seriously, can she explain why Mind, in its report "Ward Watch", which was published last week, found that 23 per cent. of recent and current in-patient respondents were accommodated in mixed-sex wards a year after the Government claimed 99 per cent. compliance, that a third of patients did not have access to single-sex bathroom facilities, and that a climate of fear, harassment and abuse exists on mental health wards, with cleanliness leaving a lot to be desired? When are the Government going to treat mental health patients on an equal basis with everyone else in the NHS?

§ Ms Winterton
Perhaps the hon. Gentleman did not hear some of the facts that I stated earlier. I accept that Mind issued its "Ward Watch" campaign document. Its survey was fairly small, covering 4 percent. of people with experience of mental services, approximately only 2 per cent. of whom were being treated by mental health services when it was conducted.
The hon. Gentleman needs to recognise the additional investment—£720 million extra—to upgrade psychiatric facilities that has been made since the Government came to power. We believe that 99 per cent. of wards now provide single-sex sleeping accommodation. However, when I met Mind representatives last week, I said that if they wished to provide information in relation to wards where that was not happening, we would take the matter up. They accepted that their figures did not tally with ours, but I promised to look into any instances that they provided of mixed-sex sleeping accommodation.