Defence Medical Services (Hansard, 8 December 1994)

§ Mr. Soames

During the "Front Line First" medical study consultation period, my Department received more than 230 responses to our proposals for the future of the defence medical services.

All of these responses have received careful and sympathetic scrutiny. Understandable local concerns and support have been expressed for fine military facilities with a proud history of service to their civilian communities. No significant new defence-related arguments have, however, emerged, nor have any new suggestions bee made which have caused us to alter our original proposals.

I can therefore confirm that we shall now move to develop our plans, working closely with the relevant NHS authorities, along the lines indicated in "Front Line First". We shall establish a single tri-service core hospital to provide the future secondary care needs for the armed forces in the United Kingdom. I can conform that we have decided that this facility will be established at the current royal naval hospital Haslar in Gosport. This hospital will be supported by a continuing presence at the Duchess of Kent military hospital at Catterick and by Ministry of Defence medical staff working in three Ministry of Defence hospital units. One of these will be located at the Derriford district general hospital in Plymouth; the remaining two sites will be chosen over the next three months. All secondary care will be managed by a tri-service Defence Agency, which will continue to develop increasingly close links with the NHS, and will be headed by a chief executive reporting through the surgeon general to the Deputy Chief of Defence Staff responsible for personal matters.

The Princess Mary's RAF hospital Akrotiri in Cyprus will also form part of the tri-service secondary care agency. The future of the two service hospitals in Germany will be considered further following the completion of the current market testing programme. We are also examining the case for market testing the defence services medical rehabilitation unit at RAF Headley Court, and shall be examining the need for the RAF's central medical establishment to be in central London and the scope for alternative uses of the Royal Army medical college at Millbank. We shall be bringing dentists from all three services into a single, tri-service agency and subsequently submitting the business to a market test.

Primary care will be provided by the most cost-effective combination of the NHS, the private health care sector, and MOD military and civilian staff, to the greatest extent consistent with providing peacetime employment for those uniformed personnel required to deploy for operations and war.

The reorganisation of defence medical services, including the closures of the Cambridge military hospital and the Princess Alexandra's RAF hospital, is intended to be complete by April 1996. Because of this, the closure of the Queen Elizabeth military hospital at Woolwich will be brought forward to the spring of 1995, at which time we expect to transfer the hospital to the NHS although a service presence may remain for some months afterwards. The closure date for the Princess Mary's RAF hospital at Halton has also been brought forward to March 1996.

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Much work needs to be done before the full reorganisation of defence medical services can become effective and we have therefore put in place a team to effect all elements of the implementation process. We shall continue to consult the trade unions on the details of our plans as they unfold.