§ Sir B. Jannerasked the Minister of Health if he is aware that a doctor recently prescribed 800 purple heart tablets a day for a Lancashire family; and what steps Her Majesty's Government 190W propose to take to avoid such occurrences in future.
§ Mr. BarberI understand that in this case, which occurred in 1961, several doctors were prescribing for about a dozen people living at the same address.
Doctors are visited by my Regional Medical Officers to discuss prescribing matters and there are special arrangements for the scrutiny of individual prescriptions involving excessive quantity or cost. Some cases of over-prescribing are referred to the local medical committee and, where the circumstances warrant it, remuneration is withheld from the doctor.