§ Bob SpinkTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what remedies are available to patients who are not offered a choice of doctor when their local GP practice has closed. [113124]
§ Mr. Hutton[holding answer 13 May 2003]: There are inevitably occasions when patients are unable to register with their general practitioner (GP) of choice, due, for example, to limited practice capacity. Patients who experience difficulty in registering should contact their primary care trust, which is under a duty to help its local population to register with a GP or personal medical service (PMS) provider and, if necessary, has a reserve power to allocate patients to a GP or PMS provider.