§ Ms. EagleTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will take steps to require all meetings of community support services to be held in public except where the confidentiality of patients would be compromised.
§ Mr. SackvilleI refer the hon. Member to the reply that I gave the hon. Member for Don Valley (Mr. Redmond) on 18 May at column 56. The Public Bodies (Admission to Meetings) Act 1960 is also applicable to regional health authorities and NHS trusts.
§ Ms. EagleTo ask the Secretary of State for Health when her Department received an application for trust status, or an expression of interest in trust status, from the community support services in Wirral health authority; what the outcome of that application is; and if she will give the reasons for the decision.
§ Dr. MawhinneyWirral community unit was one of the 153 hospitals and other units which expressed interest in the autumn of 1991 in applying to become an NHS trust in April 1993. It has not so far applied formally. If the unit does apply, there will be three months public consultation on the application, as well as a detailed assessment of the application, after which my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State will decide whether to establish the unit as a trust.