§ Mrs. Bridget PrenticeTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how many general practitioners have faxes; and what proportion of general practitioners were faxed with details of the warning on the seven brands of contraceptive pill. [39969]
§ Mr. SackvilleThe Committee on Safety of Medicines' advice on oral contraceptives was sent by the Epinet electronic communication system to all directors of public health, who were asked to activate their established cascade arrangements to forward the message to: all family health services authorities to forward to all general practitioners; family planning doctors and nurses; medical directors of all hospital units within the district to cascade to appropriate hospital consultants in particular: obstetricians and gynaecologists; and the chief executive of the health authority. The detailed arrangements for cascading messages are determined locally. Precise information on the number of general practitioners who have faxes and the proportion who received details of the advice by fax is not available, and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.