§ Ms. HarmanTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what research has been conducted to establish the effect of attaching a financial cost to preventive services provided by general practitioners on uptake of these services.
§ Mr. Kenneth ClarkeHealth promotion and illness prevention are central to the Government's objectives For general practitioner services. As made clear in "General Practice in the NHS: A New Contract", published in February, the Government will make the provision of health promotion a specific requirement in general practitioners' terms of service, and will introduce a health promotion sessional payment.
As working paper 3, "Practice Budgets for General Medical Practitioners", makes clear, the Department will discuss with the medical profession whether budgets should be set at a level which includes the cost of diagnostic investigations associated with health prevention and screening or whether they should be excluded from the scope of the scheme and charged to the patient's DHA.