Mr. William O'BrienTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what is the length of time allowed for general practitioners to obtain adequate training to judge on applications under the chronic bronchitis and emphysema regulations, and if she will make a statement.
§ Mr. HagueI have been asked to reply.
This Department has no responsibility for the training of general practitioners.
Assessments of disablement for prescribed disease D12—chronic bronchitis and emphysema—are made by independent adjudicating medical practitioners, all of whom are fully registered medical practitioners.
Prior to the introduction of PD D12 on 13 September 1993, the AMPs were given a training package approved by the DSS's senior medical advisers.
The training package consisted of:
- (1) an introductory course of one day given by an expert in respiratory medicine;
- (2) half-day refresher training in spirometry—FEV1 test;
- (3) training in reading X-rays over a four-month period;
- (4) training manuals taking six hours to assimilate the information.
The AMPs who assess PD D12 all have considerable prior experience in the examination and assessment procedures for industrial injuries and prescribed diseases.