Mr. R. C. Mitchellasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what steps she is taking to ensure a settlement of the industrial dispute at Tatchbury Mount Hospital which is now in its seventh week; and whether she will make a statement.
§ Dr. OwenIt is the responsibility of Hampshire Area Health Authority (Teaching), as the employing authority, to settle this dispute with the union. I understand that the union is concerned about the hospital's facilities for caring for patients who are unpredictable and occasionally violent.
The AHA accepts that there is a need to review the mix of patients in some villas and to alter accommodation to improve facilities. Urgent steps have been taken to start appropriate upgrading in one villa, and other proposals are being worked out with a view to their inclusion in the AHA's 1976–77 programme of minor capital works. It is hoped that these steps will enable the dispute to be resolved. Discussions with the union's representatives are continuing.