§ Mr. Meacherasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will list all the cancer units for treatment o (i) in-patients and (ii) out-patients that have closed since 1979, giving the number of beds involved in each case an the date of closure; and if he will list those cancer unit whose closure is now being sought or has been approve but not yet implemented.
§ Mrs. Currie[pursuant to her reply, 12 January 1987, c. 123]: The planning of cancer treatment services is a matte for district and regional health authorities.
The records we keep centrally indicate facilities, b predominant specialty only, where closure (or change o use) has been approved; where closure (or change of use) is presently subject to public consultation; or where public consultation has been completed but no decision has ye been reached. They do not indicate dates on which closures are implemented. Since 1979 our records indicate that two facilities providing cancer treatment services have been approved for closure: (i) an out-patient clinic i Liverpool, Mersey region (January 1980), where th service was relocated with the radiotherapy and nuclear medicine department at the Royal Liverpool hospital; (ii) 20 oncology beds at St. Stephen's hospital in the the Victoria health authority, North West Thames region (September 1984), reprovided at the Westminster hospital as part of a new integrated radiotherapy and oncology unit.
The closures of two further facilities are currently under consideration: 28 beds at St. Williams hospital, Medway health authority, and 24 beds at Pembury hospital, Tunbridge Wells health authority—both in South East Thames region. The region proposes a new replacement inpatien and hostel unit at Maidstone hospital with no loss of service, whilst retaining all out-patient services at both Medway and Tunbridge Wells.