HC Deb 19 March 1990 vol 169 c462W
Mr. Frank Field

To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make it his policy to retain, within the National Health Service, specialist in-patient psychotherapeutical services for severely disturbed patients and families.

Mr. Freeman

It is national policy that all district health authorities should, as resources allow, develop locally based psychiatric services, the main components of which are summarised in paragraph 7.3 of the White Paper "Caring for People" (Cm 849). Within this overall objective, it is for each authority to determine the exact content of its service, including whether facilities for in-patient psychotherapy should form part.