asked the Minister of Health when he plans to provide a geriatric unit for old people at Sherborne, Dorset.

I must ask the hon. Member to await the outcome of the present review as it affects the main hospital services for West Dorset, but I can confirm that the regional hospital board has taken fully into account the need to improve the distribution of geriatric accommodation for this area and that the needs of Sherborne are recognised.

Is the Minister aware that there is continuing hardship because the old people have to be sent so far away? Is he aware that the local authority is very keen on this scheme? Will he give it a high priority?

We are conscious—I am conscious—of the inconvenience both to patients and to visitors when geriatric patients have to be sent 19 miles from their home town, which is the distance between Dorchester and Sherborne. We are looking into the matter.