HC Deb 05 March 1981 vol 1000 c157W
29. Mr. Michael McNair-Wilson

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he is satisfied with the adequacy of present arrangements for transferring mentally disturbed prisoners from prisons to mental hospitals.

Mr. Mayhew

When my right hon. Friend is satisfied, on the evidence of reports from two doctors, that a prisoner is suffering from mental disorder of a nature or degree which warrants detention in hospital for medical treatment, every effort is made to obtain a suitable hospital place so that a transfer direction can be given under section 72 of the Act. For a variety of reasons these efforts are not always successful. My right hon. Friend would profess himself as satisfied with the situation only if hospital treatment were invariably provided for prisoners whose conditions warranted it.