§ 2.36 p.m.
§ Lord BOURNEMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the first Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government what progress has been made in the construction of the new Queen Elizabeth Military Hospital at Woolwich.
§ Lord WINTERBOTTOMMy Lords, on latest forecasts the construction of the new Queen Elizabeth Military Hospital at Woolwich will be completed by the end of the year. The forecast completion date for stage II of the project, which includes staff quarters and a training school, is the early summer of 1978. The new hospital should be in operational use by May, 1977.
§ Lord BOURNEMy Lords, I should like to thank the noble Lord very much for his reply, which gives only dates and figures. May I ask a further question, which I hope is connected, with regard to the specialists and consultants who have always been a strength of medical excellence to Queen Alexandra's Military Hospital at Millbank? It is for that reason that Millbank has always regarded itself as somewhat special. At present, specialists and consultants are only a mile away in Harley Street or at the London teaching hospitals. Will they go to Woolwich, which is nine miles away? 1388 I should like the noble Lord to assure me on that point.
§ Lord WINTERBOTTOMMy Lords, in these days of modern transportation nine miles is not a great distance. I understand very well what the noble Lord is saying, because I, too, have been through the mill at Millbank—no pun was intended, and I should have said that I have been serviced at Millbank—and I know the importance which they attach to their relationship with Westminster Hospital and its research facilities. Good doctors —and the doctors at Millbank are very good—are interested in research into medical problems. Obviously there are regrets that the close links between Millbank and Westminster Hospital are being severed, but the new hospital at Woolwich will be an extremely good one. The sum of £2½ million will be saved in running costs per year, and the new installation at Woolwich may become as important as the present one at Millbank.
§ Lord BOURNEMy Lords, the noble Lord has said that the hospital "may become as important "I should like to be assured that it will become as important. And is the new Queen Elizabeth Hospital at Woolwich, which is nearing completion, likely in future to be any more than the Cambridge at Aldershot so far as specialists and consultants are concerned?
Lord WINTER BOTTOMMy Lords, as I understand it, the range of work to be carried out at the new Woolwich Hospital Hospital will be very wide indeed: military, psychiatric; and 20 per cent. of the patients will be civilians. This will give to the medical staff facilities to stretch their expertise in a new, modern and what I understand to be an extremely well laid out hospital.
Lord INGLEWOODMy Lords, the noble Lord said that in these days of modern transport, nine miles is not very far, but to go nine miles by car from the middle of London to Woolwich and back means that one must add at least an hour cacti way to the time spent at the hospital. For busy men of great eminence this is a very big factor.
Lord WALLACE of COSLANYMy Lords, is my noble friend aware that the Greenwich and Bexley Area Health 1389 Authority were told originally that 200 surplus beds at this new hospital would be allocated to them by agreement with the Department of Health and Social Security? The figure has fluctuated violently, mainly downwards. The Authority is in a very difficult position regarding planning because, for economy reasons, it has been asked to revise its resources. Until we know definitely where we are, this situation will cause still further confusion.
§ Lord WINTERBOTTOMMy Lords, this is a quite small area of confusion. The intention is clear, that there should be collaboration between the military hospital and the civilian authorities. It is a modern hospital, and when the operation is ready to begin I am certain that a proper balance between civilian and military needs will be struck. I believe that it is a question of 465 beds, and we are talking about only a slight fluctuation of this figure.
Lord WALLACE of COSLANY:My Lords, I am afraid that the answer given by my noble friend is quite unclear. The original figure was 200; it is now in the region of 70, and I understand it is quite possible that in the not too distant future it will be nil. We want to get on with our reorganisation.
§ Lord WINTERBOTTOMMy Lords, there is a joint committee which will settle this matter.