HC Deb 26 June 1967 vol 749 cc7-8W
Mr. Concannon

asked the Minister of Health what are the conditions laid down before a doctor's practice can be classified as designated; and what are the conditions of payment.

Mr. K. Robinson

The Medical Practices Committee, as the body statutorily responsible for securing an adequate distribution of general practitioners, classifies areas, not individual practices. They "designate" those areas which seem to them, after inquiry, in serious need of additional doctors. Under the new scheme of payments, an allowance is payable to principals providing full medical services in areas which have been continuously "designated" by the Committee for three years or more. Allowances of a different kind are available to doctors who, subject to certain conditions, set up new single-handed practices, fill vacancies in small single-handed practices or join other practices in any "designated" area.