§ 33. Mr. Goodhewasked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether he will publish figures for the past five years showing the number of cases where patients have made allegations of breach of terms of service by general medical practitioners, and the number where no breach has been found by the Service Committee.
§ Mr. CrossmanSuch figures have already been published up to 1968, in the Annual Reports of my Department and its predecessor.
§ Mr. GoodhewIf the extra figures which are due to be published indicate, as I suspect, that there is an increasing number of allegations, would the Secretary of State care to say whether he agrees with me that this is due to an increased inclination to complain rather than to a lowering of standards in the Health Service?
§ Mr. CrossmanIf the hon. Member looks at the published figures, I think he will find that they do not show a steady increase. I do not think that the deduction made by the hon. Member can be drawn from them.