§ Mr. Kilroy-Silkasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) if, in view of her answer to the hon. Member for Ormskirk on 11th November, she will now take more positive steps to ensure that Kirkby has its appropriate number of speech therapists;
(2) what the normal complement of speech therapists is for a town the size of Kirkby.
§ Mr. Alfred MorrisThere are no centrally-determined standards of complementing for speech therapists. Following acceptance of the Quirk Report's recommendations for an increase in the number of speech therapists to 2,500—as against about 900 currently—I am considering with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Education and Science how more training for speech therapists could best be provided. It will inevitably take time to reach this long-term goal. The Quirk Report envisaged 20 years. In the meantime, it is for health authorities themselves to decide how best to deploy the limited numbers available.
Hospital Number of Pay Beds Reason King George Hospital, Ilford … 6 By agreement with unions. Royal Infirmary, Preston … 8 Staff shortage. Freedom Fields/Greenbank Hospital, Plymouth … 4 Upgrading work. Ancoats Hospital, Manchester … 2 Upgrading work. Royal Infirmary, Oldham … 1 Upgrading work. Bootle Hospital … 1 Closure of hospital. Sedgefield General Hospital … 2 Closure of hospital department. Stockton and Thornaby Hospital … 4 Closure of hospital. Poltimore Hospital, Devon … 7 Closure of hospital. Forbes Fraser Hospital, Bath … 6 Redecoration agreement with Unions.