§ Mr. Kilroy-Silkasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if there are any particular reasons for the St. Helens and Knowsley Area Health Authority to have spent less revenue expenditure per head of population in 1976–77 than any other area health authority; and what steps he is taking to remedy this situation.
§ Mr. MoyleTraditionally, because of the location of existing major hospitals and lines of communication, many of the population resident in the St. Helens and Knowsley area are provided with hospital services by the neighbouring areas of Sefton and Liverpool. Expenditure on hospital and community health services provided in the St. Helens and Knowsley area is consequently low in relation to the resident population.
One of the aims set out in Mersey Regional Health Authority's strategic plan is a move towards the provision of acute, geriatric and psychiatric services within each health district, but the pace of such development will depend on the availability of resources and on the priority which can be given to it as against the region's other objectives.