Mr. Robert AinsworthTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what action she will take regarding the waiting time policy being operated by the George Eliot hospital, Nuneaton, with respect to general practitioner fund holders;
(2) what measures she will take to prevent disparities in waiting time developing between fund-holding and non-fund-holding practices in the Coventry and Warwickshire area.
§ Dr. MawhinneyJoint guidance—EL(91)84—issued by the Department and the profession, copies of which will be placed in the Library, makes it clear that contracts offered to one purchaser should not disadvantage the patients of another. National health service managers are responsible for ensuring that this guidance is implemented locally. The George Eliot hospital is meeting its contracts with the district health authority. General practitioner fund holders, like all purchasers, are free to purchase spare hospital capacity, on behalf of their patients, where this is available.
§ Mr. Tony BanksTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will provide details of the number of fund-holding general practitioners in each of the London boroughs in terms of numbers and as a percentage of general practitioners.
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§ Dr. MawhinneyThis information is not available centrally.
§ Ms PrimaroloTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what was the number and percentage of general practitioner fund holders that have spent more than their budgets for 1992–93.
§ Dr. MawhinneyThis information will not be available until final accounts have been audited and the information collected at the end of November.
§ Ms PrimaroloTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will list the items general practitioner fund holders can spend their savings on.
§ Dr. MawhinneyThe purposes for which general practitioner fund holder savings may be used are clearly set out in regulation 24 of the National Health Service (Fund-holding Practices) Regulations 1993, Statutory Instrument No. 567 1993, copies of which are available in the Library.
§ Ms PrimaroloTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment she has made of the extent to which general practitioner fund-holding patients are being treated ahead of non-fundholding patients with the same clinical need.
§ Dr. MawhinneyAll emergencies are treated immediately.
Joint guidance issued by the Department and the profession—EL(91)84—and a letter from the national health service chief executive about urgent issues dated 22 February 1993 require hospitals to hold common waiting lists for urgent and seriously ill patients and to give urgent cases priority within local timescales. NHS managers and clinicians are responsible for implementing this guidance locally. Copies of the guidance, and the executive letter, will be placed in the Library.
§ Ms PrimaroloTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will estimate the number of general practitioners and general practitioner fund holders who own their premises.
§ Dr. MawhinneyThe information is not available centrally on which such an estimate could be based.
§ Mr. BlunkettTo ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to her oral statement of 21 October,Official Report, columns 398–400, if she will make a statement on the role and position of general practitioner fund holders within the restructured NHS.
§ Dr. MawhinneyGeneral practitioner fund holding has been one of the major successes of the reformed national health service. More than 6,000 GPs in 1,200 practices are now fund holders. From next April, over a third of the population will be served by fund-holding GPs. This reflects the real achievements in improving patient care. The new arrangements for district health authorities and family health services authorities will not undermine the role of GP fund holders in providing a competitive edge in purchasing.