§ Mr. Hobsonasked the Minister of Health what was the estimated cost of treating in hospital the recent Rochdale cases of alastrim, including the cost of convalescent home treatment.
§ Mr. Iain MacleodI regret it is not practicable to calculate separately the cost of treating these particular cases.
§ Mr. Hobsonasked the Minister of Health how many cases of alastrim entered hospital during the recent outbreak in Rochdale; how many of these were sent away for convalescence; how many of them had been vaccinated at any time in their lives; and, out of the total cases, how many were seriously ill.
§ Mr. Iain MacleodI am informed that 114 patients went into hospital; that 47 of these were moved from one hospital to another when they were on the mend; and that 37 had been vaccinated, but 24 of them only as suspected contacts during the Rochdale outbreak itself. I am advised that there were no cases in which the illness could be described as serious.
§ Mr. Hobsonasked the Minister of Health how much was spent on vaccination during the recent Rochdale alastrim outbreak; and how much was paid to each of the medical practitioners for vaccination in the areas concerned.
§ Mr. Iain MacleodThe cost of this vaccination work cannot be separately calculated because some of it was done by general practitioners as part of their Service to persons on their lists of National Health Service patients, and some by medical officers in the hospital and public health services as part of their duties as such.