§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) what progress has been made since he took office in achieving his declared aim to get as many mentally handicapped children and adults as possible out of large hospitals for the mentally handicapped into a more suitable setting in the community;
(2) if he will seek to run down obsolete hospitals for the mentally handicapped and replace them in 10 years with a network of district-based small units.
§ Sir George YoungIn the Library are copies of "Mental Handicap: Progress, Problems and Priorities", a report of the Department's review of progress made in mental handicap services in England since the 1971 White Paper and of a speech my right hon. Friend made on 10 December last to the National Society for Mentally Handicapped Children and Adults in which he set out the action we propose to take to follow up that report.
Since then, he has stressed in "Care in Action" that health and local authorities in co-operation with voluntary organisations should give priority to providing a locally based service and to enabling the large badly located hospitals to be run down. We are concentrating on getting children out of hospitals and in this regard would refer the right hon. Gentleman to my reply to the right hon. Member for Manchester, Wythenshawe (Mr. Morris) on 18 June—[Vol. 6, c. 425–6.]
In addition, my right hon. Friend will shortly be publishing a discussion paper about ways of transferring resources from the NHS to local authorities to enable more people who are at present inappropriately living in hospitals to be cared for in the community.
It is clear that the number of mentally handicapped people, and in particular mentally handicapped children, in hospital is continuing to fall. The rate of future progress will depend on a number of factors including the particular circumstances in each locality but the Government will continue to keep a close watch on progress.
§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) if he will now publish all reports on hospitals 115W for the mentally handicapped made by the national development team; and if he will list the subjects and dates of compilation of each report;
(2) if he will widen the powers of the national development team so that it can examine conditions in hospitals on its own initiative and publicise its reports; and if he will include lay members on the panel.
§ Sir George YoungThe subjects of the 62 reports so far completed by the development team for the mentally handicapped and the dates on which the team visited the health and local authorities concerned are as follows. A further six reports are in preparation.
Regarding the publication of reports, I refer the right hon. Gentleman to my reply to the hon. Member for Eccles (Mr. Carter-Jones) on 5 June.—[Vol. 5, c. 442.]
The team is able to visit field authorities at my right hon. Friend's request as well as at the invitation of the authorities themselves. We have no plans at present to alter the composition of the panel of members of the development team, which includes seven parents of mentally handicapped people and 75 professionals from relevant disciplines.
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Report No. Subject Date of visit 1 Cumbria AHA and SSD June-August 1976 2 Little Plum stead Hospital (Norfolk AHA) August 1976 3 Devon AHA and SSD July-September 1976 4 Bradwell Grove Hospital (Oxfordshire AHA) October 1976 5/6 St. Mama rets Hospital (Walsall AHA)" September 1976 7 Walsall Adult Training Centres (Walsall SSD) December 1976-February 1977 8/9 Warwickshire AHA and SSD October 1976 10 Salford AHA and SSD October 1976-February 1977 11 Kirklees AHA January-March 1977 12 Cornwall SSD November 1976-May 1977 13 Fieldhead Hospital (Wakefield AHA) March 1977 14/15 Durham AH^ and SSD March 1977 16/17 Bedfordshire AHA and SSD May 1977 18/19 Hampshire AHA June-September 1977 20 Botleys Park Hospital (Surrey AHA) July 1977 21 Leicestershire AHA and SSD May 1977 22 Cleveland AHA June 1977 23 Cell Barnes Hospital (Hertfordshire AHA May 1977 24 Liverpool AHA and SSD November 1977 25 Cleveland AHA (Second Visit) January-February 1978 26 Cheshire AHA and SSD October 1977 27 Coventry SSD June 1978 28 Hillingdon AHA March-April 1978 29 Camden and Islington AHA and SSD March-April 1978 30/31 Enfield and Haringey AHA and SSD March-April 1978 32 Ealing, Hammersmith and Hounslow AHA and SSD March-April 1978 33 Bamet AHA and SSD March-April 1978 34 Brent and Harrow AHA and SSD March-April 1978 35 Kensington, Chelsea and Westminster AHA and SSD March-April 1978 36/37 Hertfordshire AHA and SSD March 1978 38 Birmingham AHA and SSD May 1978 39 Hereford and Worcester AHA and SSD June 1978 40 Oxfordshire AHA and SSD September 1978 41 Berkshire AHA and SSD October 1978 42 Calderdale AHA and SSD March 1979 43 Merton, Sutron and Wandsworth AHA arid SSD May 1979
Report No. Subject Date of visit 44 Bromley AHA June 1979 45 Wakefield AHA and SSD January 1979 46 Lancashire AHA and SSD June 1979 47 East Sussex AHA and SSD September-October 1979 48 Lincolnshire AHA and SSD November-December 1979 49 Leeds AHA and SSD October-November 1979 50 Lightwood House Hospital (Sheffield AHA) March 1980 51 Staffordshire AHA and SSD January 1980 52 Rotherham AHA and SSD February 1980 53 Devon AHA and SSD Follow-up Report March 1980 54 Leicestershire AHA Follow-up Report August 1980 55 Derbyshire AHA and SSD March-April 1980 56 North Yorkshire AHA and SSD June 1980 57 Liverpool AHA and SSD Follow-up Report October 1980 58 Kirklees AHA and SSD Follow-up Report March 1981 59 Nottingham AHA and SSD November 1980 60 Salford AHA and SSD November 1980 61 Leicestershire SSD Follow-up Report March 1981 62 Durham and Cleveland AHA and SSD Follow-up Report October 1980
§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will set up an independent advocacy service to protect the welfare and rights of mentally handicapped people.
§ Sir George YoungI refer the right hon. Gentleman to my reply to the hon. Member for Eccles (Mr. Carter-Jones) on 5 June.—[Vol. 5, c.443.]
§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will transfer funds from the National Health Service to local authorities for the development of services for mentally handicapped people.
§ Sir George YoungExisting joint finance arrangements already enable NHS funds to be used for agreed social services schemes, and we estimate that about £50 million has been spent on services for mentally handicapped people since joint finance was introduced in 1976. We shall shortly be issuing a consultative document inviting views on other ways of encouraging the transfer of people, including mentally handicapped people, who do not need hospital treatment to the care of social services departments.
§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many mentally handicapped people in the United Kingdom are in small, well-staffed units; and how many of them are (a) men, (b) women and (c) children.
§ Sir George YoungStatistics in the form requested are not collected centrally. However, chapters 4 and 5 of the recent review of mental handicap services in England entitled "Mental Handicap: Progress, Problems and Priorities", a copy of which is available in the Library of the House, summarise the available information and discuss the size of units and staffing.
I have asked my right hon. Friends the Secretaries of State for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to reply separately to the right hon. Gentleman.
§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many children's wards or units there are in 117W long-stay hospitals for the mentally handicapped; how many children there are in each unit; and if he will give a date for the closure of these wards or units and the transfer of the children into small, well-staffed units.
§ Sir George YoungStatistics on the total numbers of children's wards and units in mental handicap hospitals are not collected centrally. On 31 December 1979 there were 2,839 children under 16 resident in mental handicap hospitals, of whom 2,446—provisional figure—had been in hospital for more than one year.
Since local circumstances vary widely it would be impracticable, particularly at a time of restraint on public expenditure, to impose a date by which children must be removed from large hospitals. My right hon. Friend made clear his view that large hospitals do not provide a favourable environment for children to grow up in and I am glad that mental handicap hospitals have very largely ceased to admit children other than for short-term care.
§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is the total number of long-stay hospitals for the mentally handicapped; how many patients they accommodate; how many of them are long-term; and how many are (a) men, (b) women and (c) children.
§ Sir George YoungOn 31 December 1979 there were 45,419 patients resident in the 203 hospitals and units for the mentally handicapped in England. Provisional figures for the numbers of these patients who had been in hospital for more than one year are:
Men 22,247 Women 18,233 Children (aged under 16) 2,446 Total 42,926