§ Dr. A. Thompsonasked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he is aware that 70 maternity beds promised to Fife in 148W 1960 have not yet been made available, that a woman in labour had recently to lie in the corridor at the maternity hospital, and that these facts were stated at the Fife Health and Welfare Committee on 3rd April; and what action he proposes to take to remedy the position.
§ Mr. MaclayThe South-Eastern Regional Hospital Board have accepted that additional maternity accommodation in Fife is desirable, but that other claims on their resources, both in Fife and elsewhere in the region, are at present more urgent. The accommodation described as a corridor is in fact space wholly within the self-contained delivery unit, which normally serves as an ante-room to the designated labour rooms. While it is not normally used to accommodate patients, I am informed that the consultant obstetrician is satisfied that its use for this purpose involves no danger either to the patients or to their babies.