§ Mr. Dewarasked the Secretary of State for Scotland what steps were taken by his Department to act on the letter from the chairman of the Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland dated 10 September 1985 addressed to the then Secretary of State for Scotland which expressed grave concern about conditions at the Royal Scottish national hospital.
§ Mr. RifkindFollowing the receipt of the letter referred to by the hon. Member, senior officials of the Scottish Home and Health Department visited the Royal Scottish national hospital on 8 November 1985 and had a lengthy meeting at the hospital with the chairman of Forth Valley health board and his advisers to discuss what could be done quickly to bring about improvements to the buildings and to raise the staffing levels at the hospital. In recognition of the health board's swift response to their earlier criticism, the chairman of the Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland wrote to the chairman of Forth Valley health board earlier this year following a regular annual visit to the Royal Scottish national hospital to say that the commission had been enormously impressed at the improvements which had taken place in the hospital since its last visit in February 1985, and much encouraged that problems of leadership and inter-professional co-operation had within a very short period of time largely disappeared. The commission noted that the response of the health board had been immediate and most beneficial to the welfare of the patients.
§ Mr. Dewarasked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he has had any representations from the Royal College of Psychiatrists about conditions in the Royal Scottish national hospital and the decision to withdraw training rights from that hospital; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. RifkindI have had no such representations from the Royal College of Psychiatrists. I understand that the decision by the college to withdraw training recognition was based on the limited opportunity available to528W registrars to practise in-patient, out-patient and community psychiatric care because of the amount of time they were spending on general medical care of the patients in the hospital. The health board is taking steps to remedy the position.