asked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will state the number of hospital beds taken over from Glasgow Corporation and the voluntary hospitals in Glasgow, respectively, by the Western Regional Board; the number of staff, medical, pharmacists, clerical, etc., formerly employed by the corporation; and the number of additional staff, in similar categories, now required.

The numbers of beds are, respectively, 13,000 and 4,200 in round figures. The policy of the National Health Service is to develop an integrated hospital service with the smaller hospitals associated with the larger ones so as to raise the general quality of all hospital services to that of the best. The Glasgow hospitals have therefore been regrouped and it is impossible to obtain comparable figures for all grades of staff employed in the former corporation hospitals at 5th July, 1948, and today. Because of the new policy a larger specialist staff is now available at the former corporation hospitals and the part-time nursing staff has increased by some 170.

Does the larger specialist staff mean that the ordinary practitioner who formerly gave his services to the hospital has now become a specialist?

No. It means that these other hospitals are now available for the carrying out of operations, and the specialists can be there in attendance