I am grateful for this opportunity to raise what is unquestionably a Constituency problem, but one which has worried me considerably for quite a long period. It is a problem which affects a large number of people in my area; namely, the shortage of hospital beds in the Croydon area.

Since 1948, we are told, about 40,000 new hospital beds have been provided throughout the country in line with the increasing population. To have kept pace with this general improvement Croydon should have had an additional 200, but while in 1951 Croydon had 1,651 beds, by 1963 the number had fallen by 143 to 1,508. While allowing for many of the various medical reasons why one can claim that hospital beds are, fortunately, not so much needed now as they were, say, 10 years ago, there is still little doubt that Croydon has not had its fair share of the necessary improvement that has gone on.

I have had much correspondence about this matter with both my right hon. Friend the Minister of Health and my hon. Friend the Joint Parliamentary Secretary, who will be replying to this debate. Although my right hon. Friend obviously does not completely agree with all my figures, the Joint Parliamentary Secretary will recall that he admitted in a letter which he sent me on 17th April last that on Croydon's present population there is definitely a deficiency of about 50 acute geriatric and maternity beds. This was, in my view, a real admission of shortage.

I was disturbed to find that my hon. Friend also had to convey to me the fact that the South West Metropolitan Regional Hospital Board, which is responsible for this area, has no short-term plans for an immediate increase in the number of hospital beds in the Croydon area. In that letter my hon. Friend went on to say that planned developments at Mayday Hospital, which is in my constituency, and which are planned to start some years ahead, will eventually result in an increase of about 100 beds.

In considering the long-term plans for Mayday Hospital I respectfully suggest that those plans may not even now be providing for sufficient maternity beds. In any case, I stress that my hon. Friend's letter talks about "some years ahead" and this seems to be the only crumb that has been held out. This is a completely unsatisfactory position.

Because of the limited time available tonight I will not go into the reasons for the reduction in the number of beds, but many reasons could be advanced, including closures, minor structural alterations and other general adaptations and improvements to the existing local hospitals. I also fully realise the difficulties of recruitment of nursing and ancillary staff, which goes hand in hand with this difficult problem. It is a vicious circle and unless there is a determined effort to provide additional beds to meet the needs of this important area there will never be the necessary pressure for recruiting essential staff. The Minister has advised me that even in this regional area there are other estimated deficiencies of beds as great as those in Croydon, but I respectfully suggest that two blacks do not make a white, and I want the position in Croydon to be put right as soon as possible.

Because of lack of time I shall not quote the various long-term developments which I know are planned but, as has already been admitted—and this is the vital point—there are no short-term plans. My hon. Friend will no doubt tell us something more definite about these long-term plans. I realise, too, that it will be claimed that there is urgent need for other improvements in our existing hospitals, such as out-patient and accident services, which might, perhaps, be said to have priority, but I cannot see why the problem cannot be tackled as one. Is the Minister seriously restricting the regional board's present capital expenditure plans?

I have gone to some lengths to discuss the problem with doctors in the Croydon area, and there is no doubt at all that there is deep concern about the length of time that patients have to wait, not only for admission to hospital but for out-patient appointments, which are the usual prerequisite to hospital administration. Croydon doctors are compelled to use hospitals outside the area and this, in turn, causes difficulties to the patients and considerable problems for the doctors.

Some doctors, I know, have even had difficulty in getting emergency obstetric cases admitted to local hospitals, and have frequently had to use the emergency bed service. They do not like using that service, as they cannot exercise any choice of the hospitals to which the patients are to be admitted. There is also the uncertainty of the patients' destinations, which causes considerable distress and concern both to patients and to their relatives. It is obviously wrong that in many cases hospital admission can be secured only when the patient's condition has reached an urgent and emergency stage. Even then, admission often cannot be obtained to a local hospital.

I understand, too, that there is a definite policy these days to move some patients out of hospital as soon as possible, presumably to ease the pressure on beds. Apart from the person who particularly wants to go home, I should have thought that the patient is best in hospital, where all the facilities are available for a final cure. Rightly or wrongly, this seems to me to be rather a policy of desperation, and it adds to my concern over the whole problem.

As I say, I fully realise that, tied up with all this, is the complex question of the recruitment of nursing and ancillary staff. Although we have a wonderful number of young girls always prepared to go into nursing as a vocation, it is surely not fair just to rely on those people. I understand that we also have to depend a great deal on nurses from overseas, who likewise do a first-class job. I do not doubt that the status of nursing and the ancillary services should be raised, and the remuneration and conditions of service improved in order to induce more people to enter. The Minister might also consider the need to establish a nurses' training centre in Croydon, which would be a really important development.

Whilst making all these observations, I want to make it abundantly clear that I think that all those involved in the provision of the health services in the area do an excellent job. I have always found them extremely helpful whenever I have had to approach them, but if they do not have all the tools necessary they cannot possibly provide the 100 per cent. service that we all want to see achieved for the people of Croydon. In fairness to them all, I make this strong plea of my hon. Friend by asking him whether he can tell us what he is going to do about it, for the inspiration and indeed the approvals must of course come from the Minister himself.