HC Deb 22 November 1954 vol 533 cc764-6
25. Mr. John Hall

asked the Minister of Health the average cost per person of pharmaceutical medicines prescribed under the National Health Service during the past financial year, after allowing for the prescription charge; what is the estimated number of private patients; and what is the estimated cost of extending to private patients the right for which they pay of obtaining medicine on the same basis as National Health Service patients.

Miss Hornsby-Smith

The answer to the first part of the Question is about 19s. Precise estimates as requested in the second and third part of the Question are not available. Nor is my right hon. Friend clear what the hon. Member has in mind when he refers to the right for which private patients pay.

Mr. Hall

Would the hon. Lady agree that, whatever the cost may be to the State, it would have to be met if all private patients became registered with National Health doctors, and whether it is the policy of Her Majesty's Government to discourage private patients by imposing this additional penalty?

Miss Hornsby-Smith

I would not accept the hon. Member's assumption at all. The fact remains that there are higher priorities to be met when additional funds are available in the Health Service than this particular concession. The Health Service is not denied anybody. It is their own choosing if they do not take it.

26. Mr. John Hall

asked the Minister of Health what was the evidence referred to in the report of the Committee on General Practice in the National Health Service which led the Committee to the conclusion that many doctors who wish to use the National Health Service to prescribe for private patients are unwilling to enter into any contract with or to submit to any conditions within the Service.

Miss Hornsby-Smith

The proceedings of the Committee were confidential and my right hon. Friend is not in a position to supply any information on this point.

Mr. Hall

Is my hon. Friend aware that the British Medical Association informed the Cohen Committee that private practitioners would be quite willing to accept similar conditions to those which are at the moment imposed under the National Health Service? In those circumstances, why could they not be considered?

Miss Hornsby-Smith

That is another question. The fact remains that in an investigation to which many authorities presented evidence, some of which have published it and others have not, the Committee, without any disclaimers, recorded a unanimous decision, which my right hon. Friend accepted.

Dr. Summerskill

Would the hon. Lady not agree that to accept the hon. Member's proposition would undermine the structure of the National Health Service and would be calculated to encourage extravagant prescribing?

Miss Hornsby-Smith

I do not wholly accept all that the right hon. Lady says.

27. Mr. John Hall

asked the Minister of Health if he will now amend the National Health Service Act, 1946, so as to allow those who elect to become private patients to utilise the other facilities provided by the Act.

Miss Hornsby-Smith

I assume that my hon. Friend is referring to prescribing for private patients, and on this question I am not in a position to add to the reply which I gave to my hon. Friend on 22nd July.

Mr. Hall

Have the Government abandoned the policy which the Conservative Party announced in "The Right Road for Britain" in 1949, that private patients should be allowed drugs on the same basis as all other contributors to the Health Service?

Miss Hornsby-Smith

When my hon. Friend refers to contributors to the Health Service, I must emphasise that the greater part of the cost of the Health Service is paid for by taxation and not by insurance contributions. I can only repeat that that proposal is a concession which would cost a substantial amount and that at the moment there are higher priorities.

Dr. Summerskill

Would the hon. Lady agree that to allow this concession would make it necessary for her right hon. Friend to exercise control over the doctors who practise privately?

Miss Hornsby-Smith

Certainly, I would agree with that.