§ Mr. Jim CunninghamTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what considerations underlay his decision to retain the Royal Navy hospital at Haslar in Portsmouth; which military hospitals are scheduled for closure between the present time and 1996; and which will still be open in 1996.
§ Mr. SoamesA mix of defence-related medical training, operational and cost criteria, all of which were contained in the consultative document, a copy of which is in the Library of the House, led to the conclusion that Haslar would best meet the future medical support needs of the front line. Details of the future secondary care organisation of the defence medical services were given in my answer to the hon. Member for Scarborough (Mr. Sykes) of 8 December 1994,Official Report, columns 304–305.
374W
§ Mr. Jim CunninghamTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what plans he has for improvements to the Royal Navy hospital, Haslar; and what assessments he has made of the costs of improving this hospital and Wroughton hospital.
§ Mr. SoamesUnder our announced plans for reorganising service hospitals in the United Kingdom, the Royal Navy hospital, Haslar is to be expanded to become the tri-service core hospital. The anticipated costs in 25-year discounted cash flow investment appraisal terms are some £146,000,000. Costs for a similar expansion of the Princess Alexandra's RAF hospital, Wroughton would have been some £119,000,000 although not all facilities could have been created and insufficient patient flows would have been generated to fulfil the defence medical services' essential training requirements.