Sixth report from the Select Committee on Estimates : together with the minutes of evidence taken before sub-committee D and appendices, session 1956-1957: Running costs of hospitals.

  • Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Select Committee on Estimates
Date:
[1957]
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Sixth report from the Select Committee on Estimates : together with the minutes of evidence taken before sub-committee D and appendices, session 1956-1957: Running costs of hospitals. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    54/448 page 32
    5 February, 1957.] [Continued. has on his staff advisers in catering and dietetics who visit the Hospital Boards on request—and without being requested— in order to help them in their catering arrangements. To that extent, certainly, the catering is supervised and advice is given about diets and dietaries, menus, and so on, as well as in the organisation of kitchens and use of kitchen equipment, matters of that kind. Mr. Robinson. 305. Would it not be true to say the maximum autonomy is given not only to the Regional Board and Management Committee but to individual hospitals in the field of catering? (Mr. Marre.) And in other fields too. That generally has been the policy of all the Ministers ever since the scheme started. Vice-Admiral Hughes Hallett. 306. I want to come back to the cost side. If you find there are discrepancies in the charges being incurred the reasons for which are not immediately obvious, what action then is taken by the Minis- try? If you are thinking of non- teaching hospitals, first of all we expect the Regional Board to follow up any such discrepancies with their own Hos- pital Management Committees and find out if there is a good reason for those discrepancies, and, if not, to persuade ots Committee, if there is extravagance, to mend it ways. It may well be that the discrepancy is due to the fact that in some particular hospital or hospitals the standards are too low and that they ought to be increased, and we would expect them within the available funds to en- courage that to take place. If you are thinking of teaching hospitals with which the Minister has dealt direct, the Minister has for the last year or two had an in- vestigation set on foot into the costs of food, fuel, and drugs and dressings at selected teaching hospitals, those which apparently had relatively high expendi- ture on these items and those which had apparently low expenditure on these items. Asa result, advice has been given to those particular Boards at whose hos- pitals the costs were investigated, and in the case of food it has been found pos- sible to draw up some general points of guidance. which have been circulated to all teaching hospitals. Mr. Robinson. 307. Is it not correct to say that in the absence of any single investigation of that kind there is no conceivable way in which the Minister can tell from figures whether there is extravagance in food or not, because the expenditure relies to a very large extent on the standards of catering, which vary from hospital to hospital? That is so; I agree with you. _ 308. Therefore, you must have an investigation of a particular hospital or group of hospitals to ascertain whether there is extravagance in buying of food or in catering generally or not? That is What the Minister felt, and why those investigations were undertaken. Vice-Admiral Hughes Hallett. 309. On this question of food, I am very surprised there should be no central purchasing, because if you compare hospital catering with catering in the Army, for example, it is not all that dissimilar, is it? The Army has always found it pays to buy certain categories of food centrally and to decentralise the perishable food. Has it never been suggested any of the foodstuffs should be purchased centrally? (Mr. Wilkinson.) No, not to my knowledge. Chairman. 310. Why? Because I think food has not been regarded asa suitable item for activity centrally. 311. I again ask why? Well, if, for example, you selected butter you would be involved in buying butter in bulk and in distributing it through stores. You could not avoid, I think, distribution through stores if you buy in the sort of quantities needed by all the hospitals in this country. There would be no advan- tage at all in buying butter merely to get the contractor to deliver it direct to the hospital. 312. What about tinned goods? -—— With tinned goods, it is possible, but, again, I think you would be involved inevitably in handling it through central stores. | 313. Is there rooted objection to handling it through stores?———No. 314. Surely it is an investigation worth pursuing?——It adds very considerably to the overheads. |
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