Sir I. Clark Hutchisonasked the Secretary of State for Scotland whether the statement made by a member of a board of management at a recent Scottish conference to the effect that patients in certain hospitals had their rations reduced because of financial limitations, was made with his authority; and if he will make a statement.
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§ Mr. J. StuartI have ascertained that the speaker did not intend to convey that reductions had actually taken place for this reason and I am assured that in the hospitals to which he referred there have in fact been no such reductions. As was made clear by an officer of my Department attending the conference, I could not endorse any decision by a hospital authority to effect such reductions on this account, and I am confident that the financial arrangements of the hospital service do not oblige any authority to act in this way.