§ Mr. Will Griffithsasked the Secretary of State for Social Services which hospitals in each regional hospital board area in England and Wales have for use and/or demonstration possum units ; whether they ensure that all young chronic sick and disabled patients who could profit from them are made aware of their value before leaving hospital ; and how many units have they each recommended.
§ Dr. John DunwoodyWales and eight of the English regional hospital board areas have their own demonstration possum units. In the other six areas arrangements are made for eligible patients to have access to a demonstra-116W tion unit if this is desirable. The list of hospitals and the number of units recommended is as follows:
Region Hospital Number of POSSUM units recommended Newcastle Newcastle General 12 Leeds Pinderfields General, Wakefield. 10 N.E. Metro-politan. Passmore Edwards Medical Rehabilitation Centre, Clacton-on-Sea. 12 S.W. Metro-politan. St. Stephen's, Chelsea 19 Oxford The Radcliffe Infirmary 7 Birmingham Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic, Oswestry. 6 Liverpool The Promenade, South port. 5 Wessex Royal Hants County, Winchester. — Wales Prince of Wales Orthopaedic, Cardiff. 4 East Anglia — — N.W. Metropolitan. — 6 S.E. Metropolitan. — 5 Manchester — 8 Sheffield — 6 South Western. — 8 The answer to the second part of the question is "Yes ".
§ Mr. Will Griffithsasked the Secretary of State for Social Services which local authorities have notified him that they have brought to the notice of all seriously chronically ill or disabled patients under their jurisdiction the value of possum units ; and which have helped patients to initiate the necessary procedure for patients receiving this equipment.
§ Dr. John DunwoodyNone ; the initiative lies with regional hospital boards, which are responsible for recommending possum units for disabled patients, whether in hospital or at home. The benefit of this apparatus to a particular patient calls for specialised clinical judgment and all regional hospital boards have appointed consultant assessors to decide each case individually.
§ Mr. Will Griffithsasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will take steps to ensure that all seriously ill or disabled people who could profit from possum units are informed about them 117W before leaving hospital or whilst under the jurisdiction of their local authority, so as to assist their increased independance and in some cases to enable them to live at home instead of being institutionalised.
§ Dr. John DunwoodyRegional hospital boards already have arrangements for considering the suitability of such patients for possum, and all who are found suitable are supplied.