§ Mr. Cohenasked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether the situation at Wanstead hospital where abortion and other gynaecological patients are treated in the same ward is usual practice at National Health Service hospitals; and whether he will advise the regional health authorities to separate those women requiring abortions from those seeking treatment to fulfil their ambition to produce a child.
§ Mr. MoyleIt is usual practice for abortion patients to be treated within the NHS gynaecological services, and in many hospitals this will mean that abortion patients share ward accommodation with patients being treated for other gynaecological conditions. The Lane committee on the working of the Abortion Act considered the case for separate facilities for abortion but concluded that abortion should be kept within the mainstream of gynaecological services and continue to be 505W part of the comprehensive medical and social care of women. I share this view.
The organisation of in-patient facilities is a matter for local NHS authorities. In those hospitals where abortion patients are obliged to share ward accommodation with other patients I am sure that medical and nursing staff generally will make every effort to respect the natural sensitivities of patients.
My right hon. Friend has asked the Redbridge and Waltham Forest area health authority for a report concerning Wanstead hospital.