asked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether he will make a further statement about the importance of the peripheral/cottage hospital.

Many small hospitals provide an essential service efficiently and economically, and some will continue in use for many years. Rationalisation of services to achieve a more efficient use of resources will mean, however, that some peripheral hospitals will have to close or be used in a different way—for example, following the opening of new hospital development. In the long term, hospital services will be centred on district general hospitals in which patients can receive a range of specialist treatment. Complementary to these will be community hospitals, mostly adapted from existing local hospitals, where patients who do not require highly specialised services can be treated close to their homes.