HC Deb 30 January 1968 vol 757 cc260-1W
51. Mr. Carol Johnson

asked the Minister of Health what progress has been made in providing facilities for the treatment of heroin addicts in the London area.

Mr. K. Robinson

Out-patient treatment facilities are now provided at 15 hospitals and in-patient facilities at 11 hospitals. Further expansion is planned for the near future.

Regular out-patient treatment facilities for heroin addicts are at present available at the following hospitals in the London area:

  • Westminster Hospital—l0 clinics per week.
  • St. Clements Hospital—10 clinics per week.
  • Charing Cross Hospital—8 clinics per week.
  • Lambeth Hospital (St. Thomas's)—3 clinics per week.
  • University College Hospital)—3 clinics per week.
  • Paddington Clinic)—1 clinic per week.
  • St. Giles' Hospital (King's))—1 clinic per week.
  • The Maudsley Hospital)—1 clinic per week and also at psychiatric out-patient clinics.
  • West Middlesex Hospital—in casualty department.
  • Cane Hill Hospital—at psychiatric outpatient clinics.
  • Bexley Hospital—by appointment only.

Emergency treatment only is available at the following hospitals:

  • Oldchurch Hospital.
  • Harold Wood Hospital.
  • North Middlesex Hospital.
  • Whipps Cross Hospital.
and at other accident and emergency centres in the London Area.

In the course of the next few weeks substantial additional out-patient facilities will be provided. Further clinics will open at Lambeth Hospital; St. Giles' and The Maudsley Hospital; and new clinics at St. Luke's Hospital, Woodside (The Middlesex Hospital); Paddington General Hospital; Queen Mary's Hospital, Roehampton (Westminster Hospital); Hackney Hospital; and St. George's Hospital, Tooting.

In-patient treatment facilities are provided at the following hospitals in the London area:

  • Bexle} Hospital.
  • The Bethlem Royal Hospital.
  • The Maudsley Hospital.
  • Tooting Bec Hospital.
  • Cane Hill Hospital.
  • Lambeth Hospital (St. Thomas's).
  • Westminster Hospital.
  • St. Bernard's Hospital.
  • St. Clements Hospital.
  • Hackney Hospital.
  • North Middlesex Hospital.
These facilities vary in extent. Psychiatric hospitals in general also treat addicts as in-patients as part of their normal service. On 31st December, 1967, 42 inpatients were being treated for heroin addiction in hospitals serving the London area.

Further beds are being provided at the following hospitals and will be brought into use as soon as building is completed:

  • St. Luke's Hospital, Woodside (The Middlesex Hospital).
  • The Bethtem Royal Hospital.
  • St. Clements Hospital.

Plans for an additional unit at St. Olave's Hospital (Guy's) have also been approved.