§ Mr. Alfred Morrisasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what representations he received on 25 July from the director of the Spastics Society concerning the non-admission to hospitals of babies of low birth weight because of the lack of intensive care facilities; what reply he is sending; what action he is taking; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Patrick JenkinI have received from the director of the Spastics Society a letter in which he makes reference to a report prepared by his society on this subject, and I am asking him to let me 667W have a copy of this report so that my Department can give it the careful study which I am sure it deserves.
§ Mr. Alfred Morrisasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what steps he will take to increase the number of intensive care cots available in hospitals in England and Wales, so as to minimise the number of avoidable deaths among new born babies due to lack of adequate care facilities.
§ Sir George YoungThe Department has endorsed the recommendations of the expert group on special care for babies, and has reminded health authorities of the need to implement these recommendations in the health circular—No. 76/40—which accompanied the report of Professor Oppe's working party on the prevention of early neonatal mortality and morbidity. In addition, in the NHS planning guidelines for the current year, health authorities were encouraged to continue to secure improvements in special and intensive baby care which had previously been indicated in both the consultative document on priorities and "The Way Forward". Health authorities must, however, assess the claims and weigh up the priorities for provision of health care for all groups of patients, within the limits of the available resources.
§ Mr. Alfred Morrisasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if, based on current statistics and the availability of adequate intensive care facilities, he will estimate the number of new born babies who can be expected to die in each of the next three years as a result of being refused admission to intensive care units.
§ Sir George YoungThere is no basis on which such an estimate could be made, since figures for admission to intentive care are not kept centrally.