§ 45. Mr. Eldon Griffithsasked the Minister of Health what steps he is taking to assist rural practitioners, the number of whose patients is below the average, and who live in areas that require travelling time above the average.
§ Mr. K. RobinsonSpecial payments are already available in suitable circumstances.
§ Mr. GriffithsIs the Minister aware that in many parts of rural Suffolk a doctor may have to travel up to 10 or 12 miles, taking perhaps 40 minutes, to see a single patient? Is he aware that group practice is particularly difficult to arrange in rural areas, and that there is very strong feeling that rural practitioners are having an even more unfair deal than many of their urban colleagues?
§ Mr. RobinsonThere are difficulties here, but I do not think that the hon. Gentleman"s view would be shared by those urban colleagues. However, I must tell him that the rural practice payments scheme was revised as recently as July, 1963, and further revised a year later, in order to give greater benefits to the type of practices that he has described. The fund now totals £1½ million and is shared by some 5,000 doctors. I agree that group practice is not so easy to establish in rural areas, but there are doctors who have found it possible.