HC Deb 25 May 1971 vol 818 cc212-3
11. Mr. Kenneth Clarke

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether he will take steps to increase the information and advice given to general practitioners on prescribing costs and on the comparative costs of drugs.

Sir K. Joseph

No, Sir. I think that the information services we now provide for doctors are sufficient in quantity; but I shall neglect no opportunity of improving their quality.

Mr. Clarke

I thank my right hon. Friend for that reply. Is he aware that there is still some concern in this sphere about waste of prescribing charges in the National Health Service? In particular, whilst considering the possibility of graduated prescription charges as one way of increasing the awareness of prescribing costs, will he consider whether there are possibilities in other directions for achieving the same aim—for example, by increasing the number of staff in his Department working in this sphere and the frequency of their visits to general practitioners?

Sir K. Joseph

Yes, Sir. I doubt whether a further expansion of visits to doctors will be productive, but I will consider what my hon. Friend has suggested.

Mr. Dalyell

What does the Secretary of State mean by "neglecting no opportunity"? Does he intend to extend, or try to extend, the Ipswich experiment on amphetamines?

Sir K. Joseph

The hon. Gentleman has bowled me out there. I am not sure that I know the reference.

Dr. Summerskill

The amphetamines.

Sir K. Joseph

That is off the point of the Question. I am interested in spreading the voluntarly amphetamine ban imposed on themselves by the G.Ps in Ipswich. I am interested in presenting to doctors even more vividly, if I can improve the quality, information about clinically equivalent alternatives at differential prices.

Mrs. Shirley Williams

I hope that the right hon. Gentleman's reply means that he has now abandoned the ludicrous scheme to bring in cost-related prescriptions. If not, he will have to think hard again about his reply, because it will be crucial to give advice of this kind unless the disaster is to be even greater than we suppose it is likely to be.

Sir K. Joseph

I think that the hon. Lady knows that I am in the midst of the rational dialogues to which I had looked forward.