§ Mrs. Renée Shortasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what action he intends to take to ensure that National Health Service hospitals are equipped with modes of communication other than telephones and with methods of transport other than lifts.
§ Mr. John PattenThe Department provides guidance to health authorities on effective on-site and wide-area radio paging systems for staff location, hand portable and vehicle mounted mobile radio systems, nurse-call systems and direct speech communication systems other than telephones. The Department's nucleus hospital building programme is based on a policy for material handling using tugs and trolley trains, with ramps between floors where this is cost-effective. Existing hospitals will continue to take their own decisions on cost-effective transportation systems.