HL Deb 07 March 1988 vol 494 cc426-7

2.51 p.m.

Lord Ennals asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether they will call in for consideration the proposal of the Riverside Health Authority to re-organise hospital and community services including the closure of the Westminster Hospital and the Westminster Children's Hospital.

Lord Skelmersdale

My Lords, at present we have no plans to call in the Riverside proposal. However, any major capital scheme for a new Westminster and Chelsea Hospital proposed by Riverside Health Authority would need the approval of Ministers.

Lord Ennals

My Lords, is the Minister satisfied with a plan for a massive new 655-bed hospital in traffic-jammed Fulham, leaving no hospital services at all in Pimlico, Victoria, Westminster, Belgravia and Mayfair for residents, the working population or indeed visitors? Secondly, is he satisfied with the quite inadequate costings of this project?

Lord Skelmersdale

My Lords, since my right honourable friend has as yet made no decision to call in the proposal, I think it would be a mistake for me to answer the noble Lord directly. However, this matter is out to consultation. I have no doubt that the community health council for the Riverside Health Authority will establish in its own mind the validity of what the noble Lord has just said.

Lord Ennals

My Lords, is the Minister aware that his noble friend the Minister for Health has twice been publicly referred to as having given his approval to this proposal? That is why I asked the Minister whether he would call it in.

Lord Skelmersdale

My Lords, I can give a categoric assurance that no formal approval has been given by the Government.

Lord Northfield

My Lords, can the noble Lord say what is supposed to be wrong with the Westminster Hospital that we now have? It is not an old building; it was built just before the Second World War. A new wing was built recently, which cost a lot of money; it has a fine reputation for research and a fine reputation for teaching. In every sense it is one of the best hospitals in the country. Why is there a proposal to close it?

Lord Skelmersdale

My Lords, the Riverside Health Authority has established that it no longer meets present-day criteria and that in the authority's view it is in the wrong place. That is the substance of the consultation paper: to reformulate the provision of hospitals within the health authority area.

Lord Wallace of Coslany

My Lords, is the noble Lord aware that any proposal to close Westminster Hospital will be met with considerable anger and resentment by all sections of the Palace of Westminster? Many of us have received its services and no doubt look forward to continuing to have its support.

Lord Skelmersdale

My Lords, there is clearly intense interest in the hospital among Members both of your Lordships' House and of another place as well as among the staff of the Palace of Westminster, although they may not be the most numerous of the people served by it. The health authority is very well aware of that and I understand that the implications of any change are being discussed with the relevant officers of both Houses.

The Earl of Selkirk

My Lords, is my noble friend quite sure that the Riverside Health Authority does not want the money from selling that piece of land?

Lord Skelmersdale

My Lords, the authority has produced a large scheme which affects three hospitals. There is no doubt that this money is included within the total cost of those hospitals.

Lord Ennals

My Lords, is the Minister saying that the money from the sale of those hospitals will come to the district health authority automatically for its expenditure? Is he satisfied with the consultative arrangements by which only one plan is put out for consultation and no others are considered?

Lord Skelmersdale

My Lords, as far as one plan is concerned, it is quite normal for a district health authority to make up its mind what it wants to do and then to put the matter out to consultation. The procedure is just the same now as it was in the noble Lord's day.

Baroness Phillips

My Lords, bearing in mind that the hospital is sited in the borough which sold cemeteries for 10p—I am sorry, I overstated the amount; for 5p—would it not be wise for the Government to consider whether much revenue will be gained before it disposes of this very valuable hospital?

Lord Skelmersdale

My Lords, I was not aware of the value which the local authority presumably, rather than the district health authority, put on cemeteries in the area. However, I would make the point that Riverside has three district general hospitals: Charing Cross in the east; St. Stephens, Fulham and Westminster in the west. The district health authority considers that only two district general hospitals are needed. That is the rationale for putting this plan out to consultation.