§ 3.15 p.m.
§ LORD SANDFORDMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ [The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government what extra staff and finance they are going to allow to non-teaching hospitals that are being required to treat drug addicts.]
§ THE PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY, MINISTRY OF HOUSING AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT (LORD KENNET)My Lords, the annual financial allocations to Regional Hospital Boards take account of expected developments in the hospital service and no special financial arrangements are necessary to meet the cost of staff engaged in the treatment of drug addiction or the running costs of the facilities provided.
§ LORD SANDFORDMy Lords, I thank the noble Lord for that reply. Is he saying that hospitals other than non-teaching hospitals have so much spare staff and so many spare premises that they can take in their stride this difficult treatment for these large numbers of heroin drug addicts that are coming to them, and give satisfactory service?
§ LORD KENNETNot precisely that, my Lords. A sense of proportion should be kept. The annual financial allocations to the Regional Hospital Boards are now about £700 million. The problem of heroin addition is largely concentrated in London. My right honourable friend had provided facilities for about 1,000 heroin addicts, but only about 700 are at present using these. This is not a very big bite out of the moneys available.
§ LORD AUCKLANDMy Lords, would the noble Lord agree that there are some areas a very long way from a hospital, teaching or non-teaching? And would the Government ensure that staffing facilities are made available, particularly for rural areas where drug addiction could be a problem in the future?
§ LORD KENNETMy Lords, mercifully it is not at the moment.
§ LORD SANDFORDMy Lords, is the noble Lord aware that the service which it is possible to render in, for instance, the Queen Elizabeth II Hospital in Welwyn Garden City, amounts to little more than that of a maintenance centre? It is just possible to check that the dose which addicts are receiving is correct, and to give them their prescriptions. It is quite impossible in these circumstances to provide anything that really merits the term "treatment".
§ LORD KENNETMy Lords, I am not familiar with the conditions in the individual hospital which the noble Lord mentioned. But if he has evidence that my right honourable friend should do more to help the Regional Hospital Board to solve the problem, then I should be grateful if he would send it to me.
§ LORD SANDFORDI shall do that.
§ VISCOUNT BRENTFORDMy Lords, did I understand the noble Lord to say that this problem was primarily concentrated in London? My understanding of the situation was that it was concentrated in most of the urban conurbations throughout the whole country. Is that not correct?
§ LORD KENNETMy Lords, it is a question of degree. I think the prime and most worrying concentration is in London, though there are subsidiary concentrations in other large cities.
§ LORD SEGALMy Lords, can my noble friend give an assurance to the House that the additional work so far imposed on these hospitals through the treatment of drug addicts has not been sufficient to justify any additional recruiting?
§ LORD KENNETMy Lords, approval has been given for the appointment of staff such as to allow 22 sessions per week by consultants or senior registrars in Regional Hospital Board hospitals—that is, non-teaching hospitals—in the London area. This is all within the financial allocation, and at the moment my right honourable friend is not convinced that that is insufficient.