§ Mr. Patrick Thompsonasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will consider the inclusion of blood glucose test strips on the list prepared by his Department so that they can be obtained on prescription by diabetic patients.
§ Mr. John PattenIf blood glucose testing strips are considered clinically essential for a particular diabetic patient they may be provided through the hospital service. It would add substantially to costs if they were to be made generally available on GPs' prescriptions and there are more pressing priorities for expenditure in the National Health Service at the moment. I propose to keep the matter under review as one of the possible improvements in the service to be introduced when resources permit.