HC Deb 31 March 1949 vol 463 cc1426-7
23. Mr. Bossom

asked the Minister of Health what estimate he has made for the purposes of the National Health Service of the number of patients which a doctor may reasonably be expected to see in a day or an hour.

The Minister of Health (Mr. Aneurin Bevan)

The number of patients whom a doctor can attend varies according to the circumstances of his practice and no precise estimate is possible.

Mr. Bossom

The Minister told me last week that certain doctors have 4,000 patients on their panels, and that caused them to have more than they are able properly to attend to. What provision is he making to remedy that particular situation?

Mr. Bevan

I think the hon. Gentleman will find that that is the maximum which the British Medical Association agreed for any doctor to have upon his list, but there are doctors with 4,000 people on their panels who have less patients to attend than some doctors with lists of only 3,000. It is not possible to make such a sweeping generalisation in this field.

Mr. Bossom

Does not the Minister realise that certain doctors today are having a great number of patients whom they have to try to look after in an hour, and that the point of my Question was how many the Minister himself expected a doctor to look after in the space of one hour?

Mr. Bevan

Obviously, the hon. Member ought to realise that the number of patients whom a doctor can attend to in an hour depends upon the physical condition of the patients whom he is seeing. Some patients require more time than others, and in some parts of the country, where the age of the population is higher, a higher percentage of people will need to see the doctor, so that it really is not possible to make a generalisation of the kind which the hon. Member desires.