§ 3.17 p.m.
§ Baroness Lane-FoxMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper.
The Question was as follows:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how the setting up of the special health authority announced on 10th March will achieve full integration of services for disabled people at the point of delivery.
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health and Social Security (Baroness Trumpington)My Lords, we have accepted the McColl recommendations that the limb and appliance service should, in the long term, be alongside the occupational therapy, physiotherapy and rehabilitation services offered by the NHS. The special health authority, the chairman of which will be my noble friend Lord Holderness, with Professor Ian McColl as vice-chairman, has been constructed to achieve this. It will have a threefold responsibility: to oversee the planning for the eventual transfer of the service to the National Health Service on 1st April 1991; to build upon the improvements already under way; and to run the service for the transitional period.
§ Baroness Lane-FoxMy Lords, in thanking my noble friend the Minister for that informative reply and in saying, as a long-term user of appliance centres, how delighted I am with the excellent news contained in the recent Statement, I should like to ask how the improvements listed in the Statement are to be implemented.
§ Baroness TrumpingtonMy Lords, the principle of general management, which was started by the appointment of a general manager to head a specialist disablement services division, is now to be extended throughout the limb and appliance service in order to implement the far-reaching changes we envisage. We intend to reorganise the service into regions with boundaries that are coterminous with those of the NHS. Each region will be headed by a senior manager 1138 responsible for the entire limb and appliance service in the area. It will be their job to implement the improvements already identified and to continue to search for further improvements.
§ Baroness JegerMy Lords, is the noble Baroness aware that we all welcome any improvements that can be made to help disabled people, and we especially welcome the appointment of the noble Lord, Lord Holderness, as the chairman? May I ask the Minister whether there will be other people who need to use artificial limbs on this special authority, or will it be possible to have a committee of users so that people who need artificial limbs can have a direct channel of communication with the special health authority? There have been some problems about communication.
§ Baroness TrumpingtonMy Lords, my honourable friend the Minister for the Disabled, in consultation with the chairman and vice-chairman, will consider further appointments to the board at an early date. Some of the other members may well be disabled. I emphasise that they will be appointed not because they are disabled but because of their ability to achieve the objectives. I am quite sure that my friends from BLESMA will most certainly make sure that they have an input.
§ Baroness LockwoodMy Lords, does the Minister agree that, despite the criticism in the McColl Report of the artificial limb manufacturing industry, nevertheless one of the British limbs (namely, Endolite, by Blatchford) is at the leading edge of this technology and is being much sought after by many countries, including America and Germany? Indeed steps are being taken in those countries to emulate the techniques. Will she assure the House that any future organisation of the industry will not be so fragmented as to inhibit the continuation of research and development?
§ Baroness TrumpingtonMy Lords, I am grateful for the words of the noble Baroness. There are many satisfied users of the service, but there are some bad parts of it. However, the limbs to which the noble Baroness referred are indeed praiseworthy. I feel sure that the new health authority will press for research to continue because we wish for nothing but the best for disabled people.
§ Lord Taylor of BlackburnMy Lords, may I ask the Minister on the financing of this authority whether this is new money that the Government are to give to the NHS or whether it is to be a reallocation from various health authorities existing at the present time?
§ Baroness TrumpingtonMy Lords, we shall be protecting the funding during the life of the special health authority and for a period after integration with the National Health Service. The authority will also be charged with devising safeguards to ensure that the continuity of the service is maintained following integration.