§ Mr. MorganTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what information she has on requests by general practices to hospitals to delay to come in—TCI—dates for non-urgent patients until the commencement of the new financial year for financial reasons; [16680]
(2) what guidelines she has given to general practices concerning the information to be supplied to patients, whose non-urgent TCI dates have been delayed as the request of their general practice until the commencement of the new financial year for exclusively financial reasons; and if she will make a statement. [16676]
§ Mr. MaloneFundholding general practitioners, like other national health service purchasers of health care, are required to assess the needs of their population and establish contracts for services accordingly. All emergency cases will be seen immediately and urgent cases are placed on a common waiting list. For non-urgent cases, national or local patients charter standards apply. The patients charter makes it clear that health authorities and general practitioners should give detailed information to patients on local health services, including quality standards and maximum waiting times.