HC Deb 12 June 1979 vol 968 cc216-20W
Mr. Kilroy-Silk

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will give a full breakdown of the number of patients in the special hospitals who are awaiting transfer to National Health Service hospitals, by age, sex, time waiting and the hospital at which they are presently located.

Dr. Vaughan

Following is the information (as at 30 April 1979) in respect of patients who are thought by their responsible medical officers to be suitable for transfer to a less secure hospital:

Period of waiting
Under 1 year 1–2 years 2–3 years 3–4 years Over 4 years Total
Hospital Age Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female
Broadmoor 20 and under
21–30 2 1 1 3 1
31–40 5 1 1 7
41–50 6 1 1 1 1 9 1
51–60 1 1 2
Over 60
Total 14 1 3 1 2 1 1 21 2
Rampton 20 and under
21–30 9 5 5 1 6 4 5 29 6
31–40 12 5 10 4 4 1 2 2 3 4 31 16
41–50 3 1 5 3 2 3 4 1 1 1 15 9
51–60 7 2 5 2 4 1 1 1 1 18 6
Over 60 2 1 3 1 1 7 1
Total 33 13 26 10 16 5 14 5 11 5 100 38
Moss Side 20 and under 1 1
21–30 4 2 1 1 1 7 2
31–40 1 3 2 1 4 3
41–50 3 1 1 1 4 2
51–60 2 2
Over 60 1 1 1 2 1
Total 10 5 6 1 2 1 1 2 20 8
Park Lane 20 and under
21–30 1 1 2
31–40 1 1 2
41–50 2 2
51–60 1 1
Over 60 1 1
Total 4 3 1 8
GRAND TOTAL 61 19 38 11 20 5 17 6 13 7 149 48

Mr. Kilroy-Silk

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will provide a full list of those hospitals that have refused to admit patients from the special hospitals and give the reasons for the refusals.

Dr. Vaughan

No. To attempt to compile such information the Department would have to contact most health authorities and many individual hospitals. This would be a very lengthy and costly exercise, which would not produce a clear-cut result because of the difficulty of defining refusal to admit patients from the special hospitals.

Mr. Kilroy-Silk

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services by how many patients each of the special hospitals is overcrowded; what are the consequences that flow from this; and what steps he proposes to take to eliminate overcrowding.

Dr. Vaughan

The number of patients for which the special hospital buildings are appropriate varies from time to time because of the mix of patients and the number of wards out of use for redecoration etc. Currently, the figures for Broadmoor hospital would be about 600 patients, for Rampton about 1,050, Moss Side about 400 and the Park Lane advance unit 70, but these figures include accommodation in specialised wards which by their nature cannot necessarily be fully occupied at all times. The number of patients resident on 1 May 1979 was as follows:

Broadmoor 703
Rampton 894
Moss Side 375
Park Lane 69

The main consequence of the overcrowding at Broadmoor is that the dormitory accommodation (for those patients who do not have single rooms) and the day room accommodation is cramped. This reduces general living standards and increases the problems of staff caring for patients. Despite some recent improvements, there is still also insufficient space for educational, occupational and social activities. More generally lack of space seriously hampers the modernisation of sub-standard accommodation.

The problem will be reduced by the opening of the first two phases of the new Park Lane hospital in mid 1980 and 1981, which will provide an additional 120 places for special hospital patients. A substantial rebuilding and modernisation programme to improve the patient accommodation at Broadmoor is being planned.