§ Mr. Nicholas WintertonTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) whether he has any information concerning the amount of funding transferred by each regional health authority in the latest year for which figures are available from the mental health services budget to the acute services budget;
(2) whether his Department has issued any guidelines to regional health authorities concerning the transfer of funds from the mental health budget to the acute services budget following the closure of mental hospitals as part of the community care programme.
§ Mr. MellorIt is for health authorities to determine what proportion of their resources to devote to the various services that they provide. Within a national framework of health care priorities, they have to determine, in the light of local needs and circumstances, how their resources can best be used.
No guidelines have been issued to regional health authorities concerning the transfer of funds between budgets and it is not possible to assess, from information available centrally, the extent to which such transfers may have taken place.
Number of residential care homes in North Western Region, by local authority, as at 31 March 1987 (Provisional) Local authority Elderly and younger physically handicapped Mentally ill1 Mentally handicapped1 Other client groups2 3 Cheshire 138 27 32 1 Lancashire 581 17 55 0 Bolton 44 2 6 0 Bury 25 1 4 0 Manchester 102 23 45 1 Oldham 49 5 7 0 Rochdale 33 2 5 0 Salford 36 6 8 0 Stockport 59 12 17 0 Tameside 34 2 5 0 Trafford 60 6 6 0 Wigan 32 8 9 0 Knowsley 9 3 4 0 Liverpool 75 14 10 2 Sefton 151 5 15 0 St. Helens 13 1 4 0 Wirral 91 13 25 1 Total 1,532 147 257 5 1 Includes unstaffed homes and hostels. 2 Collected from 1987 onwards. 3 Includes alcohol drug misusers.