§ Mr. Greenwayasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he is satisfied that adequate safeguards exist to prevent excessive expenditure by health authorities to deal with the problems of individual patients.
§ Mr. Geoffrey Finsberg:Yes. The Department allocates resources to regional health authorities which in turn allocate resources to the health authorities with their regions. It is for health authorities to deploy their resources in the light of national policies and local priorities. The treatment to be given to individual patients is ultimately a matter of clinical judgement. Doctors are however encouraged to have regard to both the cost effectiveness of particular treatments and their resource consequences.