HC Deb 08 February 1965 vol 706 cc15-6
7. Mr. Bessell

asked the Minister of Health if he will now make a statement on the replacement of the loan system to general practitioners by grants for professional accommodation.

77. Dr. David Kerr

asked the Minister of Health what assistance he proposes to give to general practitioners by specific grants for the purpose of acquiring professional accommodation.

Mr. K. Robinson

A number of measures, including improvement grants, are proposed to help general practitioners with expenditure on practice premises. I am not yet ready to make a statement on the possibility of further measures.

Mr. Bessell

Whilst thanking the Minister for that reply, may I ask him whether he is aware that this is a matter of considerable anxiety to a number of small group practices who are quite unable to avail themselves of the loan facilities, partly because they cannot manage the deposit money and partly because they cannot repay in the short period required? Is he also aware that this is a matter of urgency which affects not only the medical profession but the Health Service generally?

Mr. Robinson

Yes, Sir. I am aware of this, and I realise that many doctors find difficulty in financing the provision of premises in which to set up in practice, but for the general practitioner to look to public funds for this raises problems about his whole relationship to the National Health Service. This is a matter on which the Working Party on General Practice will no doubt in due course be expressing an opinion.

Dr. Kerr

Will my right hon. Friend bear in mind that one of the major problems facing the general practitioner today is less a problem of finance than one of actually finding the land? Will he bear in mind also that there are a number of his hon. Friends who consider that the implementation of a health centre programme will do more to provide adequate general practitioner services than would be achieved by providing more money for the doctors to spend?

Mr. Robinson

I think there is a good deal in what my hon. Friend says. Local authorities have the powers to provide premises and I am glad to say that there is evidence that these powers are being increasingly used.

Lord Balniel

Surely the right hon. Gentleman should be a little more generous to his predecessor rather than taking the credit himself. Did not his predecessor reach agreement last September with the General Medical Services Committee to give improvement grants of up to one-third of the cost of improving professional premises?

Mr. Robinson

>: I was not trying to seek any credit for myself. I think that it would perhaps be a little inaccurate to say that my predecessor reached agreement on this last September. Proposals were put forward and no final agreement has yet been reached with the profession.