§ Mr. Cartwrightasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many pyscho-surgical operations were performed in the United Kingdom during each of 389W the most recent five years for which figures are available; and how many of these were performed at the Brook general hospital, Woolwich.
§ Sir George YoungOn the first part of the question, I regret that I have no reliable information for England and Wales on the number of such operations performed. In 1977 the Department introduced, as a matter of urgency, a return of cases which were referred for psycho-surgery from mental illness and mental handicap hospitals and units as an indication of the number of operations performed. Arrangements were then put in hand to replace this return in 1979 by the more direct and economic procedure of collecting the number of operations performed from neurosurgical units. 1979 figures on the new basis should, therefore, be available in the next few months and I will then circulate them in theOfficial Report.
The inquiries made as a result of the hon. Member's question have shown that the referrals reported for 1977 and 1978 do not provide reliable information on the number of operations performed. I am writing to explain the position to the hon. Member for Lewisham, West (Mr. Price) to whom I gave information from the returns of referrals in a reply on 16 January.—[Vol. 971, c. 758–59.] The hon. Member may like to know that an article in the British Medical Journal (1978, 2, 1591–1593) reported an inquiry which suggested that in the United Kingdom 158 such operations were carried out in 1974, 154 in 1975 and 119 in 1976.
I have asked my right hon. Friends, the Secretaries of State for Scotland and Northern Ireland to let the hon. Member have further information relating to Scotland and Northern Ireland.
As regards the Brook general hospital, its records show that there were 40 such operations in 1974, 47 in 1975, 37 in 1976, 33 in 1977 and 35 in 1978.