§ Ms. HarmanTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how district health authorities will make decisions about which hospitals to place contracts with for maternity services;
(2) whether women will have a free choice of where to have their baby within the national health service after April 1991;
(3) how decisions will be made, for each district health authority, about drawing on the contingency reserve for maternity services.
§ Mrs. Virginia BottomleyDistrict health authorities will seek the views of their residents on where they prefer to be treated through consultation with local GPs and organisations representing patients' interests. DHAs objectives will be to place their contracts in line with these preferences.
466WHealth authorities will make provision to pay for the likely volume of referrals which are not covered by existing contracts. They will release those resources in response to demand.
Decisions about where women have their babies will therefore continue to be a matter for discussion between the mother, her GP and relevant health professionals. A key advantage of the reforms will be the improved arrangements to give practical effect to such decisions.
§ Ms. HarmanTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) for each district health authority, if he will state (i) the total amount and (ii) the percentage of the budget for contracts which has been set aside as a contingency reserve for extra-contractual referrals for maternity services;
(2) if he will list for each district health authority (a) the districts and hospitals with which they have placed contracts for maternity services and (b) the number of births contracted for in each hospital and in each district.
§ Mrs. Virginia BottomleyHealth authorities are in the course of making decisions on these matters in preparation for the introduction of NHS contracts in April. This information is not held centrally.
§ Ms. HarmanTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list for(a) each district health authority and (b) for each of the last three years (i) the number of women who gave birth in hospitals within their local district health authority, (ii) the number of women who gave birth in hospitals outside their local district health authority and (iii) for women giving birth out of their local district health authority, (1) a list of the districts and hospitals where they had babies, and (2) for each district and each hospital, the number of women who had their babies there.
§ Mrs. Virginia BottomleyThis information is not held centrally.