§ 71. Dr. Winstanleyasked the Minister of Health if he will state the Government's intentions regarding the new method and levels of remuneration of 181W general medical practitioners which it was announced would take effect from 1st April, 1966.
§ Mr. K. RobinsonThe effective date of the first phase of the increased remuneration of general medical practitioners which was formerly 1st April, 1966 will now become 1st October, 1966 and it will be received in the payment made at the beginning of January, 1967.
For details of the method of remuneration in the period from 1st April to 30th September, 1966, including the provision to be made for reimbursement of certain expenses incurred on ancillary staff in anticipation of the new methods of remuneration, I would refer the hon. Member to the following letter I have sent to the British Medical Association:
Ministry of Health,
Alexander Fleming House.
Elephant and Castle,
London, S.E.1.
1st August, 1966.
Dear Dr. Stevenson,
In the letter I sent you earlier today I said that I would be writing to you separately about the remuneration of general medical practitioners prior to 1st October, 1966.
Special arrangements will have to be made for the period 1st April to 30th September. These arrangements will have to secure overall that, while net income remains unchanged, proper allowance is made for the higher level of expenses assumed by the Review Body to be incurred in this period. Payments will continue to be made on the present basis and at present rates, but at the end of the year a supplementary payment will be made. This will amount to half the additional sum which it is estimated would have been available for the whole year for final distribution under the old pool system.
There is a further point. I am conscious of the possibility that since the announcement of the Government's decision in regard to the Review Body's award, some doctors may, in anticipation of its implementation with effect from 1st April, have engaged additional ancillary staff, increased the number of hours worked by their existing staff or, in engaging replacement staff, increased the number of hours worked by the new staff. To the extent to which doctors have in these ways incurred additional expense since 4th May, 1966, they would be out of pocket and their net income would actually be reduced as a result of the standstill arrangements. The Government are therefore prepared to implement from that date the provisions of the direct reimbursement Scheme set out in Appendix C of the Third Report (as amplified in papers subsequently discussed and agreed with the profession's representatives) in relation to the extra staff time involved. Payments will be made from additional money from outside the Pool. They will be made only where such 182W extra staff time is spent on qualifying duties and the proposal will not of course apply where the additional expense takes the form solely of an increase in salary to existing staff.
Yours sincerely,
KENNETH ROBINSON.
D. Stevenson, Esq., L.L.D., M.R.C.S., L.R.C.P.,
Secretary,
British Medical Association,
Tavistock Square,
London, W.C.1.