HC Deb 16 July 1969 vol 787 cc124-5W
Mr. Snow

, pursuant to his Answer, [OFFICIAL REPORT, 7th July, 1969; Vol. 786, c. 941–2], circulated the following information:

Statistics available

1. Limited statistics are available for the years since 1963 (but not before) about inpatients with a primary diagnosis of drug addiction, not confined to heroin addiction. From July, 1967 much more detailed statistical information has been collected, about heroin addicts only, both in-patients and out-patients.

New out-patients at heroic, addiction clinics

2. The number of heroin addicts given in the reply as new out-patients at clinics are slightly inflated by the fact that some individuals were seen at more than one clinic and some on examination were found not to be addicted.

3. Conclusions as to growth of addiction should not be drawn from comparison of 1967 and 1968 figures, as up till April, 1968, some heroin addicts were treated by general practitioners.

Treatment facilities

4. In preparation for the restrictions on prescribing introduced in April, 1968, special facilities for treating heroin addicts as outpatients and in-patients in hospital psychiatric departments were planned and opened from 1967 onwards.

5. The number of heroin addicts attending as out-patients was 232 at 31st December, 1967; 1,139 at 31st December, 1968, and 1,159 at 30th April, 1969.

6. A survey of 702 patients attending clinics last December showed that 38.6 per cent. were no longer receiving heroin, and 30.9 per cent were receiving it in reducing quantities.

7. The number of admissions (including readmissions) to mental illness hospitals and units of in-patients with a primary diagnosis of drug addiction was 127 in 1958; 200 in 1960; 920 in 1964; and 1,592 in 1967. The number of admissions (including readmissions) of heroin addicts was 413 in the six months July to December, 1967; 1,209 in the year 1968; and 326 in the first four months of 1969. The number of heroin addicts resident as in-patients at one time in the period September, 1967 to April, 1969, varied between 65 and 148; at 30th April, 1969, it was 91.

8. Present facilities both for out-patient and in-patient treatment both in London and elsewhere, are adequate to meet the demand. This

Average Net Assets Net Income Net Income as Percentage of Assets Fixed Investment ill United Kingdom Government Loans Government loans as Percentage of Fixed Investment Total Employees at December 1967
£m. £m. Per cent. £m. £m. Per cent 000's
British Railways Board 1,956 -86.2 -4.4 97.0 10.0 10.3 339
London Transport Board 235 -3.6 -1.5 21.7 15.5 71.4 73
British Transport Docks Board 96 5.3 5.5 16.7 9.6 57.5 13
British Waterways Board 14 -0.5 -3.4 1.3 0.4 30.8 3
Transport Holding Company 189 10.4 5.5 21.8 5.0 22.9 100

NoteThe information given is for the undertakings' financial year 1967 (the corresponding information in Table 2 of Cmnd. 3437 being for the preceding calendar year).

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