§ Mr. Carter-Jonesasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) how many general practitioners in England and Wales have paging devices which assist them to keep in touch with urgent cases; how many individuals provide their own schemes; if she will indicate areas where general practitioners can participate in existing schemes run by public authorities; and if she will make a statement;
(2) if she is aware of the medical and social advantages of the use of paging devices by general practitioners in urban areas which are short of doctors; if she will consider financing a paging device scheme with existing facilities organised by healh authorities or local authorities on an expermental basis; and if she will make a statement.
§ Dr. OwenI regret that information is not available on the number of general practitioners in England and Wales who have paging devices or who operate their own individual schemes. There are to my knowledge at least three areas where services are organised by groups of prac-378W titioners, and I understand that four health authorities—in Liverpool, Kingston-upon-Thames, Torbay and Leeds—have schemes which practitioners can apply to join. The Post Office runs a pilot scheme in the Thames Valley area which includes 180 general practitioners among its subscribers. Practitioners can also join paging services provided by commercial companies in a number of areas.
A general medical practitioner is an independent contractor to the National Health Service. As such, he is responsible for providing himself with whatever equipment he considers necessary for his patients to receive all the necessary and appropriate services usually provided by a general medical practitioner. The cost of practice equipment, including paging devices, is part of a general practitioner's practice expenses, and, as such, in indirectly reimbursed through the various fees and allowances he receives.
I appreciate that paging systems can be of value to general practitioners. They can direct a doctor on call to a patient in an emergency, or advise a doctor on his rounds of further visits necessary whilst he is in the area. However, with the increasing concentration of doctors in group practice, a doctor is often available at the main surgery to attend to emergency calls. Some doctors operate a system of ringing the surgery at appointed times for further calls. Paging equipment is expensive to instal and running costs can be high especially if ancillary staff are involved.
The circumstances in different practicies vary considerably, especially between urban and rural practices, and doctors' views on their need for specialised equipment of this nature wil also vary, as will its availability.