Mr. McQuarrieasked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make a statement about primary health care services in inner city areas in Scotland.
Mr. YoungerI have given careful consideration to the relevance for Scotland of recommendations in the Acheson and Harding reports on primary health care issues. There is, I am happy to say, no evidence to suggest that the scale of problems highlighted by Acheson in relation to general practitioner services in inner London reflects the position in Scotland. Scottish inner city areas do not have a high proportion of general practitioners working single handed; nor is there a disproportionate concentration of elderly general practitioners in inner city areas; and we have not identified shortages of community nursing staff specific to such areas. We have concluded that the existing national policy guidelines to health boards, particularly in the report on "Scottish Health Authorities Priorities in the Eighties', take full account, within the limits of existing financial provision, of health care needs in Scotland, including those of groups with special needs.
We have however decided that there would be advantage in making some additional resources available for the improvement of general practitioner surgery premises in certain designated inner city areas. An enhanced improvement grant scheme will come into operation from today to provide grants to general practitioners in the selected areas of up to 60 per cent of approved total improvement costs as compared with the 33⅓ per cent. maximum grant available under the existing scheme which will continue to operate. The scheme will run for three years, and during this period some £250,000 will be made available for assisting improvements to general practitioners' premises. Following discussion with representatives of the profession in Scotland we propose that this assistance should in the first instance be made in the Glasgow district council area. In selecting the applicants to benefit from this higher level of grant preference will be given to doctors whose premises serve patients within those areas selected by Strathclyde regional council under their areas for priority treatment programme. The scope of the scheme will be reviewed at the end of the first year of operation.