§ 19. Mr. BrazierTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans she has for the further development of the general practitioner fund-holding initiative.
§ Dr. MawhinneyFund holding is an acknowledged success and clearly delivers benefits to patients. We want to see these benefits extended as far as possible. Almost 3,000 general practitioners joined the scheme this year, taking the total to over 6,000. Around 3,000 more are preparing to join next year. We are also looking at ways to encourage more smaller inner-city and rural practices to join the scheme.
§ 25. Mr. HunterTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what consideration she is giving to extending fund holding to smaller general practices.
§ Dr. MawhinneyWe have always encouraged small practices to group together to join the scheme. Seventy such groups have already done so and around 150 more are preparing to join from April 1994.