§ Mr. Edwin Wainwrightasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many persons, in the Sheffield Regional Hospital Board's areas are suffering from loss of speech due to a brain injury and are unable to receive proper treatment due to the shortage of speech therapists.
§ Mr. AlisonThis information is not available.
§ Mr. Edwin Wainwrightasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) how many speech therapists are engaged by the Sheffield Regional Hospital Board,
(2) if he will give the number of speech therapists employed by each regional hospital board; and how far these figures fall short of the numbers required.
§ Mr. AlisonOn 30th September 1972 the following were the numbers of speech therapists employed in the hospital service in England:
Region Numbers of Speech Therapists (whole-time equivalents) Sheffield 14 Newcastle 8 Leeds 17 East Anglia 5 North West Metropolitan* 19 North East Metropolitan* 12 South East Metropolitan* 15 South West Metropolitan* 17 London Teaching Hospitals 28 Oxford 21 South-western 8 Birmingham 16 Manchester 16 Liverpool 9 Wessex 5 *Excluding Teaching Hospitals. Need is difficult to quantify but I appreciate that many authorities would 69W like to employ more speech therapists. The hon. Member will be aware that the departments concerned are actively considering recommendations made by the Quirk Committee; these include proposals to increase the number of speech therapists and to deploy their skills more effectively.
§ Mr. Edwin Wainwrightasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will give the number of persons in England and Wales who have had their larynxes surgically removed, and are receiving treatment by speech therapists on the technique of using "oesophagal voice", and how many are not receiving such training because of the shortfall of suitable speech therapists.
§ Mr. AlisonIt is estimated that since 1967 around 2,670 patients in England and Wales have undergone laryngectomies. Although no information is available about the numbers receiving training in the use of the oesophagal voice technique I understand that any surgeon undertaking this form of surgery would wish to arrange for such training to be provided, and these patients would normally have priority for the available speech therapy services.