§ Captain Kerbyasked the Minister of Health if he will now introduce legislation so as to enable the private patients of doctors to obtain their drugs and apliances on the same terms as National Health Service patients.
§ Mr. Walker-SmithThe Government attach importance to the preservation of private practice and the right of patients to resort thereto, and would certainly consider making drugs available to private patients on National Health Service terms, in the context of available resources and competing claims, if it were shown that the present position was endangering the existence of private practice or preventing any substantial number of people from availing themselves of it, who would otherwise wish to do so. But they have no present plans for legislation on this subject.