§ 35. Mr. Silvesterasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what provision the Government are planning to meet the health needs of the elderly over the next three years.
§ Mr. John PattenOver the next three years we shall spend an extra £2.4 billion on the National Health Service, and elderly people will benefit as major users of almost all156W health care services. The great majority of elderly people live at home and the central objective of all our policies for their care is to enable them to continue to do so for as long as possible. For this they need good community health services backed up by ready access to hospital facilities, especially the geriatric and psychogeriatric specialties. The National Health Service annual report 1984 described steady improvements since 1978 in all these services. As my right hon. Friend said in the foreword to the report, we intend that these improvements should continue.