§ 42. Mrs. Joyce Butlerasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many psycho-surgery operations have been performed in the National Health Service in each of the last 10 years; what proportion of these operations has been effective in improving the patient's condition; and if he will make a statement.
§ Dr. OwenI would refer my hon. Friend to my reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Lewisham, West (Mr. Price) on 21st January 1976.—[Vol. 903, c.512.] Comprehensive information as to the general effectiveness of such operations is not available; but I am sending my hon. Friend an article from the British Journal of Psychiatry about a follow-up study on stereotactic limbic leucotomy. Arrangements are being made in future statistical returns to collect more precise information about numbers of psycho-surgery operations.