§ Sir E. Graham-Littleasked the Minister of Health whether he will investigate the case, of which he has been told, in which the County of London Insurance Committee has informed insured persons that, in the absence of their own doctor and of any specified locum tenens, they cannot obtain treatment from a National Health insurance practitioner who is not a member of the Protection of Practices Scheme conducted by the British Medical Association; and is he aware that some insured persons have had to wait some months before getting treatment from the practitioner of their choice and have, in the meantime, had to pay private fees for medical attention near their homes?
§ Mr. E. BrownI am informed that insured persons on the lists of absentee practitioners who are participants in the London Protection of Practices Scheme are not directed to go to any particular doctor, but are informed that they can apply to other participating doctors the nearer of whom are named. Doctors who participate in the scheme and are on service60W have agreed to accept other participating doctors as their deputies during absence, and the regulations provide that an insured person on the list of a practitioner who has appointed a deputy can transfer to another practitioner only at the end of a quarter and after a prescribed length of notice, except where the former practitioner agrees to an earlier transfer.