HL Deb 28 March 1979 vol 399 cc1647-8WA
Baroness MASHAM of ILTON

asked Her Majesty's Government:

What action they propose to take for the care and treatment of paraplegics until the Spinal Injury Units at Odstock and Stanmore open.

Lord WELLS-PESTELL

Her Masjety's Government fully accept that patients who are paraplegic or tetraplegic as a result of spinal cord injury should whenever possible be treated in specially designated spinal units. At present there are some 20 vacant beds in spinal units in England although none of these is in the National Spinal Injuries Centre at Stoke Mandeville. The new spinal units at Odstock Hospital, Salisbury, and the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital, Stanmore, will provide some 70 additional beds in the early 1980s. In the meantime, paraplegic and tetraplegic patients will continue to be looked after in existing spinal units and in other hospitals which I am confident will continue to offer medical and nursing care appropriate to their condition.