Mr Somerville Hastings: asked the Minister of Health whether his attention has been called to the fact that because of the retirement of a general practitioner in St. Marylebone and the difficulty of securing a surgery in that area it will be necessary to disperse the practice, causing inconvenience to 3,000 National Health Service patients; and what proposals he has for the provision of the necessary accommodation...
Mr Somerville Hastings: asked the Minister of Labour how many local authorities have provided schemes of training for the deaf; and whether he will give some indication of the nature of these schemes and of their results.
Mr Somerville Hastings: Does the Parliamentary Secretary realise that quite a number of people suffer from deafness for which nothing can be done by mechanical aid and that the psychological condition of the very deaf is a very serious one? It is often worse than that of the blind, in that they tend to be suspicious and depressed. Will the hon. Gentleman see whether more can be done for this very unfortunate class...
Mr Somerville Hastings: asked the Minister of Health for what proportion of children under 15 years of age, who have had two injections of poliomyelitis vaccine, the parents have agreed to a third some months later; what proportion of children have already had a third injection; and what steps are being taken to urge parents to agree to this boosting dose.
Mr Somerville Hastings: If there is clear evidence that for the best results to be obtained a third dose is necessary, and now that there appears to be an abundance of the vaccine available, cannot the right hon. and learned Gentleman exercise more pressure so that more than 250,000 children receive the boosting dose at the right time—that is to say, about six or seven months after the primary dose?
Mr Somerville Hastings: asked the Minister of Health whether he is aware that 69 per cent. of the outbreaks of food poisoning in 1957, in which a cause was found, were associated with processed and made-up meat dishes; what evidence there is that this danger is increasing; and what advice he is tendering to local authorities as to its prevention.
Mr Somerville Hastings: In view of the very serious position, would the hon. Gentleman think it desirable to consult the Medical Research Council on whether some method could be obtained to prevent or, at any rate, reduce the number of these epidemics?
Mr Somerville Hastings: asked the Minister of Health what action he is taking, or is proposing to take, to implement the suggestion in the report of his Department for 1957, Part II, that it would be worth paying more attention to alcoholism in educational material on health matters addressed to the general public in sample localities.
Mr Somerville Hastings: Will not the Minister consider this as a matter of urgency? Does he realise that the number of convictions for drunkenness is increasing? Is he aware that the number of convictions of boys and young men has quadrupled between 1946 and 1956; that the number of pages given to the description of the effects of alcohol in "Suggestion for Health Education" for teachers has been whittled down from...
Mr Somerville Hastings: In considering this matter, will the right hon. and learned Gentleman carefully keep in mind the possible danger to patients of unnecessarily restricting the freedom of action of medical practitioners?
Mr Somerville Hastings: How many local authorities have already provided schemes for training the deaf?
Mr Somerville Hastings: Are they training schemes?
Mr Somerville Hastings: To what extent does the right hon. Gentleman consider the high prices for beef to be the cause of this lack of consumption? Does he not consider it very important that animal proteins should be consumed in reasonable quantities if the nation is to maintain its health?
Mr Somerville Hastings: asked the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation whether he will give a general direction to the British Transport Commission that the change of trains from winter to summer services and vice versa should take place on the same date as the change to summer and winter time.
Mr Somerville Hastings: Will the Minister agree that the changing of timetables at a regular date would go some way to make good the inaccuracies which exist in local timetables at the present time?
Mr Somerville Hastings: asked the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation whether he will give a general direction to the British Transport Commission that, on change from winter to summer services or vice versa on the railways, timetables may be printed so that the public may know in advance which of the trains they have previously been able to travel by are taken off.
Mr Somerville Hastings: Is the Minister aware that the local timetables between Reading and London are never available until at least three weeks after the change has taken place, and that there are very considerable changes at both winter and summer?
Mr Somerville Hastings: Will London children who did not turn up as instructed be given another chance when vaccine is available?
Mr Somerville Hastings: asked the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation whether his attention has been called to the clouds of finely-divided mud thrown into the atmosphere by heavy motor vehicles in wet weather; and whether he will make regulations to deal with this nuisance.
Mr Somerville Hastings: Although I did not fully hear the reply, does the right hon. Gentleman realise that a good deal could be done by properly designed mudguards, and that the inhalation of finely divided mud is not only unpleasant but also unhealthy?