§ Mrs. Renée Shortasked the Secretary of State for Social Services, how many (a) general practitioners and (b) hospital doctors, are currently employed in the West Midlands; and how this compares with the total numbers in 1974.
§ Mr. MoyleThe information requested is as follows:—
Whilst in seclusion patients are observed closely by nursing staff at frequent intervals and this ensures speedy response to requests for toilet facilities.
§ Mr. Christopher Priceasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many injuries to patients at Broadmoor, Rampton, Park Lane and Moss Side hospitals, respectively, have been dealt with at outside hospitals during the past five years.
§ Mr. MoyleInformation about the occasions on which a patient has been sent to an outside hospital for treatment of injuries or physical illness is kept on the individual patient's case notes. The information requested could be obtained only by scrutiny of these notes and it is considered that this would be disproportionate in terms of time and cost.
§ Mr. Christopher Priceasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many 615W charge nurses have been appointed from outside to the staff of Broadmoor, Rampton, Park Lane and Moss Side, respectively, during the past five years.
§ Mr. MoyleAt Broadmoor, Rampton and Moss Side hospitals the grade of charge nurse is considered to be a promotion grade and the Whitley agreement on promotion procedures does not allow for staff outside the special hospitals to be appointed direct to this grade. The situation is slightly different at the Park Lane advance unit where, because it is a new hospital in process of being built up, charge nurses have been recruited from outside. Since the unit opened in 1974, six appointments from outside have been made at charge nurse level.
§ Mr. Christopher Priceasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many straitjackets exist at Broadmoor, Rampton, Park Lane and Moss Side hospitals, respectively; and how many times they have been used in the past five years.
§ Mr. MoyleStraitjackets in the previously accepted sense of the term have now been replaced by strong clothing. This is designed to provide variable degrees of physical restraint but retains a clothes function. It comprises a one-piece, long-sleeved, overall type garment, fastening at the back and made from very tough material; it is used occasionally at Rampton, Moss Side and Park Lane for patients whose condition is such that they might injure themselves or others and where sedation by drugs is not regarded as the best form of management. This clothing is a means of physical restraint but it is flexible in its use so that patients so dressed are subjected to the least restraint necessary for their management. In this way the use of strong clothing enables some disturbed patients—who would otherwise be secluded in their rooms—to mix with other patients and take part in ward activities.
The number suits of strong clothing kept in the special hospitals is as follows:
Broadmoor Nil Rampton 144 Moss Side 34 Park Lane 5 Use of the strong clothing is recorded on the patient's case notes, but collated records of the number of occasions on 616W which strong clothing is used are not kept in any of the hospitals.