Dr Edith Summerskill: While the whole House will welcome the announcement by the Minister, the right hon. and learned Gentleman will be aware that there have been other committees whose recommendations have proved abortive. Will he ask this committee to submit an interim report—instead of sitting for a number of years without issuing a report —making recommendations so that the whole country will realise that...
Dr Edith Summerskill: Should not the right hon. Gentleman tell the House what are the facts; that the London County Council has been providing 93 per cent. of the cost of this service, and that, far from this being revolutionary, 70 per cent. of the local authorities in a similar position have already taken over the District Nursing Service? Is not the House aware that, in these days of comprehensive domiciliary...
Dr Edith Summerskill: Silly old man.
Dr Edith Summerskill: I beg your pardon, Mr. Speaker. Under no circumstances would I address that observation to you.
Dr Edith Summerskill: While the hon. Lady may be satisfied about the Newcastle Region, has she had any representations from other mental hospitals where it has been very difficult to implement the 88-hour fortnight and where nurses are subject to the greatest tension?
Dr Edith Summerskill: Will the Minister explain why this shortage has been allowed to go on? We have had a shortage of pharmacists, a shortage of radiologists and of practising midwives. When the position becomes acute, the Minister has to adopt methods of this kind and issue EC 10 forms, which will be a most costly answer. Finally, he has to say that we will give these people more, and the Whitley machine...
Dr Edith Summerskill: Although it is refreshing to learn that there are "jobs for the girls", is there any precedent for ignoring the unanimous recommendation of a hospital management committee in such a matter?
Dr Edith Summerskill: The hon. Member has made a most astonishing statement for a Member who has had so much experience of social legislation in the House. He said that one reason why he could not support the Bill or encourage the Government to support it was that one could not create universal virtue by legislation. But does he not agree that all social measures of this kind never attempt to do that? They...
Dr Edith Summerskill: Nervous conditions, too.
Dr Edith Summerskill: The Minister has been very dogmatic about this. I, too, have been Minister of National Insurance, and I took a great interest in this subject. I am astonished that the Minister is using this argument, in view of the fact that 50 per cent. of the beds in this country are occupied by people suffering from nervous conditions. Obviously, conditions in an overcrowded office are precisely those...
Dr Edith Summerskill: Since there have been only ten centres provided in ten years, could the hon. Lady say whether the attitude of the British Medical Association towards the provision of health centres has made local authorities reluctant to provide them and the doctors to rent rooms in them?
Dr Edith Summerskill: Does the hon. Lady realise that it has been suggested by the British Medical Association to medical practitioners that it is not desirable to support health centres?
Dr Edith Summerskill: While this is a little move forward, will the Minister tell the House what he proposes to do in respect of the drug houses who hold Press conferences to announce the efficacy of a drug which the medical profession knows full well has not had satisfactory clinical trials? These are drugs which can be obtained only on prescription.
Dr Edith Summerskill: Is this not an illustration of what I asked the Minister on the earlier Question? Is it not wiser for the Minister or his Department to make a statement when a Press conference has given publicity to the efficacy of a drug such as this, which reduces the symptoms of senility, and, in consequence, means a rush of old people to doctors asking them for it or something similar to it? Is the...
Dr Edith Summerskill: asked the Minister of Health if he will give favourable consideration to the provision of a vehicle to a disabled person with a double amputation below the knee.
Dr Edith Summerskill: Are we to understand that, wherever new maternity accommodation is provided, the Ministry is observing the percentages laid down by the Cranbrooke Committee for maternity units in hospitals?
Dr Edith Summerskill: asked the Minister of Health whether he will make a statement with regard to the future of the Occupational Health Unit at the Central Middlesex Hospital.
Dr Edith Summerskill: May I ask the right hon. and learned Gentleman to regard this effort favourably? Does he recall that this was a pioneering effort, certainly financed by the Nuffield Trust, but given the blessing of one of his predecessors? So I am sure it would be in the interests of the whole country if he would see that this unit does remain alive.
Dr Edith Summerskill: Can the right hon. and learned Gentleman say whether the total cost will be more or less than that recommended in the Guillebaud Report?
Dr Edith Summerskill: Is the right hon. and learned Gentleman aware that his attitude is approved by many doctors in this country and also by the whole of the public?
