§ Sir E. Graham-Littleasked the Minister of Food whether his attention has been drawn to an official requirement of his Department that doctors issuing certificates for patients requiring certain special foods must give the clinical and biochemical data on which the diagnosis is based, which certificates so completed are required to be submitted to the local food committee, so that a lay body is charged with revision of the medical certificate and is put into possession of details concerning the patient involving a breach of professional confidence; and whether he will take steps to terminate this requirement.
§ Colonel LlewellinMy hon. Friend has been misinformed. The arrangements for granting extra or special foods to invalids are such that either the foods are immediately made available against a medical certificate stating only the medical condition of the applicant, or, where the medical certificate has, at the request of the Food Rationing (Special Diets) Advisory Committee of the Medical Research Council, to contain the clinical and biochemical details on which the diagnosis is based, the certificate is at once transmitted, through the agency of the Ministry 1537W of Food and its local offices, to that Committee for consideration. At no stage is a detailed medical certificate submitted to a local Food Control Committee or any other lay body for consideration or revision. The procedure has recently been re-examined by my Department and approved by the Food Rationing (Special Diets) Advisory Committee.