§ 47. Mr. Mappasked the Minister of Health what is the extent of the shortage of hospital accommodation for handicapped children in the Manchester Regional Hospital Board's area; and what additional accommodation is being made available to overcome excessive delays of up to nine or 10 months.
§ Mr. K. RobinsonBeds in hospitals for the mentally subnormal are needed6W for about 200 children who are now in community care and for 90 in hospital paediatric units. Thirty additional beds will be provided at Calderstones and Cranage Hall Hospitals this year; others may be diverted from adult use; and extensions now being built at Cranage Hall will provide 120 more. Additional developments in the next few years in the Liverpool Regional Hospital Area, from which patients are at present admitted to hospitals in the Manchester Region, will also relieve the current pressure.