§ Mr. Christopher Priceasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what has been the cost to the East Berkshire area health authority of the use of private psychiatric hospitals, occasioned by the closure by that authority of psychiatric wards at Wexham Park hospital, Slough; how many sectioned and voluntary patients, respectively, have been involved in transfer to such hospitals; whether any fatal accidents have occurred to such transferred patients; and which private hospitals have been involved in receiving such transferred patients.
§ Mr. Geoffrey FinsbergWhen staffing problems made it necessary for the health authority to close the psychiatric unit at Wexham Park hospital, most of the patients were transferred to other wards within the hospital or returned to the community. The remainder were transferred to the Cardinal clinic in Windsor and to the Priory hospital at Roehampton. Subsequently some NHS patients were admitted direct to these hospitals. In total the Cardinal clinic has treated three patients as inpatients, and the Priory thirteen.
I understand that two of the 16 patients were formally detained and the remainder were admitted informally. I also understand that one of the transferred patients was involved in a fatal traffic accident while a patient at the Priory. The total cost from 14 September 1982, when the first patient was transferred to private facilities, to the end of December, the latest date for which information is available, was £65,974.44.