Eleventh report from the Select Committee on Estimates : together with the minutes of evidence taken before sub-committee E and appendices, session 1950-1951: regional hospital boards and hospital management committees.

  • Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Select Committee on Estimates
Date:
[1951]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Eleventh report from the Select Committee on Estimates : together with the minutes of evidence taken before sub-committee E and appendices, session 1950-1951: regional hospital boards and hospital management committees. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Qs. 1033, 2503-05 Q. 3539 Qs. 260-1, 278 Q. 536 Qs. 2773-4 Q. 3581 Qs. 281, 287, 294-7, 305, 1003, 1183-7 XViil ELEVENTH REPORT FROM THE the National Health Service Act states that the Minister shall secure, so far as practicable, that each [Regional Hospital Board’s] area is such that the provision of services in the area can conveniently be associated with a University having a school of medicine. It would not be a direct contravention of the Act, therefore, to split the South-West Metropolitan Region into two without associating each part with a University school of medicine, since the Act requires this to be done only so far as is prac- ticable. No witness examined gave any strong reason why there should be a Teaching Hospital in each Regional Board’s area, though it is true that a Teaching Hospital constitutes a natural focus for a large number of highly specialised services. 37. Having considered the evidence, Your Committee do not con- sider that the lack of a Teaching Hospital in the western half of the South-West Metropolitan Region is a valid objection to splitting the Region into two. Although there is no Teaching Hospital in the western half of the Region, there are more than one in the London part of the Region, and there does not appear to be any reason why one of these should not be associated with a separate Region covering the western half. Your Committee recommend that consideration should be given to the possibility of splitting the South-West Metropolitan Region into two Regions. Hospital Grouping 38. Your Committee received a number of criticisms of the grouping of hospitals, and suggestions for improvement. In particular, it was alleged that the Ministry had insisted upon too rigid an adherence to the principle that each group should provide roughly 1,000 beds. From such direct evidence as Your Committee were able to take on this question they gained the impression that the grouping is generally satisfactory, though there is probably room for revision here and there, particularly with a view to ensuring the preservation of natural local units. They were impressed by the fact that some of the Hospital Groups in the East End of London are very small and that, as they are over-shadowed by the London Hospital, there appear to be no appreciable waiting lists for beds at these hospitals, as there are else- where. The present position in the East End of London is somewhat peculiar, but Your Committee think that there is a case for reviewing the grouping in this area. 39. The Ministry of Health said that there were three groups which they might like to revise, though they thought that the system had not really been in existence long enough to justify any attempt to break up or to redistribute groups. They assured Your Committee that the machinery existed for the revision of the hospital groups. Membership of Boards and Committees 40. Some misgivings were expressed to Your Committee on the quality of members chosen to serve on Regional Hospital Boards and Hospital Management Committees. The British Medical Association criticised both the system of selection and the adequacy of medical representation. The Chairman of the South-West Metropolitan Regional Hospital Board also expressed the view that the quality of members appointed was deteriorating. Your Committee, in the time available, could test only a small part of the field, but they gained the impression that these views were not generally held in the Hospital
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