Dr Edith Summerskill: If the hon. Member is so interested in the question of heredity, I suggest that he reads Darwin's Origin of Species, which should interest him. I will send him a copy. The right hon. and learned Gentleman's attitude is entirely correct, for these reasons. If he gives way to the pressure that is continually applied to him, he will in fact be establishing two classes of sick people in this...
Dr Edith Summerskill: Is it not a fact that large numbers of chronic sick receive National Assistance and is not the simple answer to the administrative difficulties, which I recognise, that all these charges should be abolished in view of what we are told is the improved financial state of the country?
Dr Edith Summerskill: In view of the figures given by my hon. Friend and those given in Question No. 50 will the right hon. and learned Gentleman consider including in the OFFICIAL REPORT the latest statement from his advisers on the subject?
Dr Edith Summerskill: It has been said on many occasions in the House that the House of Commons is at its best when discussing social Measures. I think that we can include this Bill as an important social Measure, and I thank the Minister for going into considerable detail and explaining some of what I might call the cumbersome machinery that it has been thought necessary to inject into this piece of legislation....
Dr Edith Summerskill: I am sure that the righ hon. Member for Thirsk and Malton (Mr. Turton) will recall our exchanges some years ago. But I think that the Title is an improvement. It shows that we have moved on. In the past we regarded these people as auxiliaries but now they have reached professional standards.
Dr Edith Summerskill: Will the hon. Lady reconsider this, because circumstances are changing? These disabled men are much older. They are in need of care and help when they go out in any vehicle. They are not the type to abuse a tricycle. In these circumstances, there are so few needed that the Ministry might reconsider this.
Dr Edith Summerskill: As the hon. Lady knows the numbers, can she not tell the House the cost now so that we can assess the importance of this small but humane reform?
Dr Edith Summerskill: Can the Minister say whether he is implementing the recommendation of the McNair Committee that the number of available places should be increased from 650 to 1,000? And has he now established a dental school in Wales with 50 places, as the Committee recommended?
Dr Edith Summerskill: In view of the detailed investigation that is being carried out, would the Minister consider letting the House know the distribution on an occupational basis when he has the figures?
Dr Edith Summerskill: Could the hon. Lady say why the man who is disabled in a pit and is paraplegic should not also be entitled to a car?
Dr Edith Summerskill: Is the right hon. and learned Gentleman aware that my hon. Friend's anxiety is fully justified, because the Dentists Act which provided for these dental ancillaries was passed in 1955 when the right hon. and learned Gentleman's predecessor, who is now Secretary of State for the Colonies, approved it in principle and agreed that it would be an experiment, and the body which went to New Zealand...
Dr Edith Summerskill: In view of the grave shortage of dentists and the increasing incidence of dental caries, will the Minister be prepared to introduce inducement grants for potential dental students?
Dr Edith Summerskill: In view of the serious position, could the Minister tell us whether dental hygienists are now being employed?
Dr Edith Summerskill: Is not there an important point of principle here? Can the right hon. Gentleman say whether it is customary for a man to be discharged on medical grounds from one of the Services and still be liable for call-up for National Service?
Dr Edith Summerskill: Does not the hon. and gallant Gentleman realise that if we were to allow the private patient to have free drugs, as he suggests—and, as he knows, it has been suggested before by representatives of the Government—that must destroy the National Health Service because it will immediately create two classes of patient? I have listened to the speeches of the hon. and gallant Gentleman, and I...
Dr Edith Summerskill: I am sorry to interrupt the hon. and gallant Gentleman again, but I want to scotch this. If there are two patients who are entitled to treatment under the National Health Service, the doctor, on seeing one, will know that he will be paid and he will prescribe drugs for that patient free. The next patient will not give the doctor a fee, but he will still get his drugs free of charge. I know...
Dr Edith Summerskill: When the hon. Gentleman says that only eight local authorities have reported this condition, has he made representations to all the other institutions for which his Ministry is responsible that they should take action similar to that which he has described?
Dr Edith Summerskill: As the Cranbrook Committee recommended that 70 per cent. of deliveries should take place in hospital, how does the hon. Gentleman reconcile the figures he has given with the number of deliveries?
Dr Edith Summerskill: If it would help the House and the Minister, I will tell him at this stage that this is the only Amendment about which I have serious misgivings, and it may be the only occasion on which I shall intervene during the passage of the Lords Amendments through this House. I was surprised to hear the Minister say that he thinks the Amendment would be an improvement; indeed, he said that without...
Dr Edith Summerskill: In view of the fact that the Cranbrook Report was published last February, can the Minister say when he will make his recommendations, having regard to the importance of the obstetric list and the need to make more hospital beds available?
