§ Mr. Ellis Smithasked the Minister of Health when he received a report from his Standing Medical Advisory Committee on the medical conference proceedings on bronchitis held in October, 1963, at Stoke-on-Trent and Eccles; what action he proposes to take; and to what extent priority will be given to the industrial areas where the incidence of bronchitis is the highest in the world.
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§ Mr. K. RobinsonThe Standing Medical Advisory Committee was not asked to report specially on these proceedings. The Committee has prepared a memorandum dealing with the preventive aspects of care of the patient with chronic bronchitis, which was issued to all family doctors in January. My right hon. Friend the Minister of Housing and Local Government gives priority to the industrial areas in matters of air pollution.
§ Mr. Ellis Smithasked the Minister of Health if he will take steps to secure the elimination of bronchitis to the same extent as tuberculosis has been treated.
§ Mr. K. RobinsonThe control and prevention of bronchitis is a matter to which considerable effort is being devoted notably through the clean air campaign, the action taken to impress upon the public the danger of cigarette smoking, and the improvement of health and environmental services.
§ Mr. Ellis Smithasked the Minister of Health if he will introduce preventive treatment for bronchitis to be applied by all doctors and hospitals.
§ Mr. K. RobinsonThe importance both of environmental factors and of appropriate therapy for relieving chronic bronchitis is already well understood; I am advised there is no specific single preventive treatment.
§ Mr. Ellis Smithasked the Minister of Health if he will set out in tabular form the names of hospitals that have allocated special wards for bronchitis in Stoke-on-Trent, Salford, Manchester and Eccles, respectively; and at what number of wards throughout the country special attention is given to people who suffer from bronchitis.
§ Mr. K. RobinsonThere are two wards at Monsall Hospital, Manchester, one at Ladywell Hospital, Salford, and nine in the country as a whole specially allocated for bronchitis. Chronic bronchitis patients normally are treated in general or chest hospitals, which respectively include 67 and 117 special wards for non-tuberculous chest diseases.
§ Mr. Ellis Smithasked the Minister of Health if he will provide in tabular form the percentage of those who have 83W suffered from bronchitis during the years 1932, 1942, 1952, 1962 and 1964, in England, Wales, Scotland, Stoke-on-Trent, Salford, Eccles, Manchester, Stockport, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Kirkcaldy and York, respectively; and what information he has through the World Health Organisation of the comparable figures for the United States of America, France, Norway, Denmark, Belgium, Switzerland and Russia.
§ Mr. K. RobinsonThe numbers of those who have suffered from bronchitis are not known. Crude death rates from bronchitis (taking no account of age differences in the population) per 100,000 people living have been:—
1932 1942 1952 1962 1964† England 50 70 62 71 60 Wales 59 79 61 76 70 Scotland 70 51 40 48 51 Stoke-on-Trent 56 85 83 79 77 Salford 78 156 133 168 117 Eccles * * 143 111 82 Manchester 73 137 105 144 98 Stockport 62 102 116 96 61 Edinburgh 71 59 39 45 58 Aberdeen 63 37 31 37 51 Kirkcaldy 52 56 30 28 50 York 54 59 61 65 55 The following figures, derived mainly from the United Nations Demographic year Book, are not strictly comparable because of international differences in diagnostic nomenclature and in practices regarding certification of cause of death:—
1932 1942 1952 1962 1964 United States of America 4 3 2 2 * France 23 11 5 5 * Norway * * 5 5 * Denmark 19 11 3 16 * Belgium * * 18 17 * Switzerland 19 12 6 * * Russia * * * * * * Not available. † Provisional.