Mr Harry Cohen (Leyton)

I begin by paying tribute to my predecessor as the Member for Leyton for the constituency casework that he undertook, and I apologise in advance that I cannot abide by the parliamentary convention that a maiden speech should be non controversial. I feel too strongly about the matters on which I wish to speak.

I shall, however, begin on a lighter note. A Jewish colleague on the local council on which we served, when commenting on the Prime Minister's recent Cabinet changes, asked whether a Jewish Home Secretary, a Jewish Education Secretary and a Jewish Chancellor of the Exchequer meant that there was likely to be compulsory circumcision. The answer is, "Probably not", but it certainly means compulsory cuts, not those in the Jewish male tradition, but those of the welfare sort.

Some people, many of whom are in this House, for their own political purposes deny that there have been cutbacks, and others delude themselves into believing it. But those connected with our welfare services, and those at the sharp end—the clients— know differently. I was a leading member of a local authority that had an excellent programme for home building, repair and improvement. From 1979, after the election of the Conservative Government, its housing investment programme, over which the Government held the purse strings, was cut 40 per cent. in one year, another 40 per cent. on the reduced figure the next year, and 10 per cent. on top of that the year after.

Those cuts have meant that many more of the local residents than would have been the case are now living in had conditions. Homes are in disrepair and families are unable to get the moves they require from tower blocks or neglected estates.

Our education service was the envy of many. Year after year, Waltham Forest appeared in The Guardian among the top 20 education authorities for its quality of education and excellent pupil-teacher ratio. Now, a mixture of cuts that are being imposed by the Government and the local Tory-Liberal administration means that that service is retreating into mediocrity. Schools are being closed and teachers are being sacked. Perhaps the greatest source of anxiety locally is the cuts in the Health Service. I shall read from an article that appeared in the local paper. I make no apology for reading it in full. It is headlined, "More cuts at Whipps." It reads: At least 820 people will not he treated as expected at Whipps Cross Hospital this year. They are the 10 per cent. non-immediate cases — who include cancer, kidney and hernia sufferers—axed in a package of cutbacks that was agreed last Thursday by the district health authority.The other decisions affecting Whipps Cross include: Closure of a ward; One less waiting list patient being seen for every emergency dealt with; Outpatient attendances cut by 3 per cent. (1.000 new patients and 4,000 total attendances);Elsewhere in the district, the authority's decision involved: Staff reductions at many levels; Reduced spending on staff uniforms, gardens, catering — and 'stringent control' over disposable bedding; Reduced heating and lighting levels at Forest and Jubilee hospitals; Chopping the supplies of Guinness and cordials to Langthorne and Harts patients. In this case, Guinness is not a luxury, as many of the elderly who drink it are frail and it provides nourishment in the form of calories and iron.

Describing the cuts, the local health administrator said that many of the patients would have to go to other hospitals which already have long waiting lists. He said: Some people could have to wait another year or two to be seen and some, depending on how serious their complaint is, might give up altogether. Others could die while waiting. I also deal with cases involving discharge from hospital at 3.30 am. One such patient had had a mild heart attack the previous night. Presumably, discharge at that time is the result of a shortage of beds.

On 7 June in the "Election Call" radio programme, the Prime Minister said: Do you concentrate your medical services in the bigger hospitals where you can have absolutely every facility, or do you keep more of the cottage hospitals?; and one tries in fact to have something of both. I mean I personally would like some of the cottage hospitals still to stay, because I think there are many things that they can do which don't need to go to a big hospital. The Prime Minister's answer shows that cuts and closures are occurring and that more are planned both for large and small hospitals. In view of her sentiments about small cottage hospitals, we should like to know why Government cuts will entail the closure of two such hospitals in our area. Harts and Lugano care principally for elderly patients. In fact, they are in the constituency of the Secretary of State for the Environment, but their closure will adversely affect health care for my constituents as well.

In addition to the declining hospital provision to which I have referred, we must bear in mind the sacking of more than 100 staff from a local hospital for the elderly — Langthorne — and the announcement of the proposed closure of Claybury by the end of the decade. It is the only hospital for the mentally ill in the area. The respectable "front" for those hospital closures is community care. It is the idea that the elderly and others who are at risk should be looked after by the community in their own homes. That approach is laudable and relevant for many elderly people, but there are many for whom it is not relevant. They need proper care in community homes, not their own homes. In Leyton and Leytonstone about 4,500 old age pensioners live alone and more than 6,000 live in couples or in groups. Yet the provision is 113 permanent places in homes for the elderly, five short-stay places, 12 day-care places and 187 warden-supervised units. That amounts to just over 300 places, which is inadequate.

It is no wonder that a couple in their seventies recently came to me because they could no longer care properly for a parent of over 90 who lived with them. The couple thought that she should be cared for in a home for the elderly. The old lady agreed and wanted to go. Three independent doctors said that that would be best, as did the local clergyman who took a keen interest. Only the local council held out against the move because of the shortage of places. Community care cannot be an excuse for having insufficient community homes.

Community care services are also suffering from the Government's cash cuts to local authorities. Under such circumstances community care means sending someone home to die or sending them back under the railway arches.

A local case brought to my attention involved a bedridden, doubly incontinent old lady who was released from hospital into the care of her blind, 80-year-old sister. She was found in a confused state in a wet bed with an unprotected electric light bulb switched on inside her bed. If she had touched it she would have been electrocuted. These are examples of community callousness, not community care. As the newly elected Member for Leyton I shall do my best to reverse the misery caused by the cuts and to expose those with overall responsibility for causing it—the Conservative Government. I won my mandate on care, not cuts. That is what I am here to fight.

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