§ Mr. Harold Walkerasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will name the authorities which have special accommodation for psycho-geriatrics.
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§ Mr. AlisonInformation about the provision of hospital facilities for psycho-geriatric patients is not readily available. Hospital authorities were advised in 1970 to establish services for assessment in each district; they have been advised recently to plan to provide longer-stay accommodation nearer the patient's homes as an alternative to beds in large mental illness hospitals. Extra capital funds have been made available for the latter purpose. Reliable current information about local authority accommodation is not available but a census in April 1970 showed that the following authorities in England have homes specially reserved for elderly people who are mentally infirm:
County Councils Bedfordshire. Northamptonshire. Cheshire. Oxfordshire. Cornwall. Staffordshire. Devonshire. Sussex (East). Dorset. Sussex (West). Hampshire. Warwickshire. Kent. Wiltshire. Lincs. (Holland) County Boroughs Blackpool. Manchester. Bolton. Newcastle. Bristol. Portsmouth. Bury. Rochdale. Carlisle. Solihull. Eastbourne. South port. Kingston-upon-Hull. Stockport. Leeds. West Bromwich. London Boroughs Camden. Southwark. Croydon.
§ Mr. Harold Walkerasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what assessment he has made of the need for a psycho-geriatric unit in Doncaster; and when he intends to approve its provision.
§ Mr. AlisonThere is a 15-bed short-term psycho-geriatric assessment unit at Tickhill Road Hospital, and the regional hospital board is actively engaged in finding suitable accommodation for those patients of this kind in Western Hospital who are in need of longer-term hospital care. In addition the county borough council has included a home for elderly people who are mentally infirm in its proposed capital building programme for 1973–74. My right hon. Friend is currently considering this along with the programmes of other local authorities, 81W and expects to be able to notify all authorities of the projects selected for loan approval by the end of March.
§ Mr. Harold Walkerasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if it is his policy that persons suffering from psycho-geriatric disorders should be accommodated in local authority homes in the company of normal elderly people.
§ Mr. AlisonIt is usually preferable for elderly mentally infirm people to be accommodated in ordinary residential homes either individually or in small groups, but as the number of elderly people suffering from psycho-geriatric disorders is increasing the need to provide homes specially far them may increase. A revised building note on local authority residential accommodation for elderly people to be published shortly will include advice to local authorities on this question.