§ Dr. FoxTo ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to his answer of 11 March,Official Report, column 806W, on general practitioners, what amount of time he expects a GP appraiser to spend on appraisals every year which would otherwise be spent on patient care. [47444]
§ Mr. HuttonThe introduction of General Practitioner appraisal will not be to the detriment of patient care. Indeed, over time we expect GP appraisal to contribute towards improving the quality of National Health Service primary care services offered to local communities. Research suggests that it is reasonable for a primary care trust to expect a GP appraiser to undertake between 10 and 25 appraisals annually. GPs' contractual frameworks include provision spend time on activities other than direct patient care. It will, of course, not always be possible to accommodate all appraisal activity without reducing the time available to the individual GP appraiser for direct patient care. In such cases detailed arrangements will need to be agreed between the primary care trust, the GP appraiser and his/her practice or personal medical services pilot provider. But we have made it clear that all primary care trusts should have a funded policy on the provision of locum cover, to support the implementation of GP appraisal.
§ Dr. FoxTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what the cost was of the National Survey of GP Services. [46996]
§ Mr. HuttonThe cost of the National Survey of NHS Patients: 1998 General Practice survey was £788,000.
§ Dr. FoxTo ask the Secretary of State for Health when he expects to complete his discussions with the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges to establish an evaluation process for international general practitioner recruitment; and when he expects such evaluation to commence. [47027]
§ Mr. HuttonDiscussions are underway with the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges. We aim to begin a full evaluation of the whole International Recruitment process later this year.