§ Colonel Beamishasked the Minister of Health if he will give an approximate estimate of the saving to the Exchequer if 105W 1,000,000 National Health Service patients became private patients, taking account of doctors' remuneration, but no account of the cost of prescriptions.
§ Mr. Walker-SmithOn the basis indicated, and under present arrangements, any saving to the Exchequer would be limited to the extent to which earnings from private practice by doctors providing general medical services were increased and their remuneration from Exchequer funds correspondingly reduced. I cannot estimate what this would amount to.
§ Colonel Beamishasked the Minister of Health approximately how many private patients there are; and what estimate he is able to make of the cost to the Exchequer if all prescriptions for these people were provided in the normal way through the National Health Service.
§ Mr. Walker-SmithI would refer my hon. and gallant Friend to my reply on 28th April, 1958, to my hon. and gallant Friend the Member for Knutsford (Lieut-Colonel Bromley-Davenport).