§ 36. Mr. Kelleyasked the Minister of Health if, in order to equalise the period of waiting for admittance to certain hospitals, he will now consider withdrawing the privilege that patients who consult doctors privately have in being passed to the National Health Service for investigation and treatment.
§ Mr. PowellNo, Sir; but if the hon. Member has evidence that a private consultation has secured earlier admission 27 regardless of the relative urgency of the case, I shall be glad to look into it.
§ Mr. KelleyI am sure the right hon. Gentleman is well aware of the difficulty of producing this type of evidence. There is widespread evidence in my area that certain people, after private consultations with specialists, have been admitted to hospital earlier than they were told admission would be available to them under the National Health Service. In my area, there is the opinion that there are two classes of patients—those who can afford to pay the entrance fee to hospital and those who have to wait. Is this a satisfactory state of affairs?
§ Mr. PowellIf the hon. Member will give me any opportunity of examining the basis of that opinion, I will gladly do so.
§ Mr. KelleyI will.
§ 37. Mr. Kelleyasked the Minister of Health how many patients were admitted to Doncaster Royal Infirmary, following private consultations with specialists on the hospital staff; what was the nature of the treatment received; and what length of time elapsed between the consultation and their admittance to hospital.
§ Mr. PowellPatients who have had private consultations are not distinguished from others in the records of admissions or on the waiting lists.
§ Mr. KelleyWould not the right hon. Gentleman agree that, if records of this kind were kept, they would provide him with the information which he has just asked me to provide?
§ Mr. PowellI think it most undesirable that such records should be kept, because, in fact, there should be no distinction in this respect between those on the waiting list.