§ Mr. Goldingasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what steps he intends to take to reduce the number of wrong operations.
§ Sir K. JosephThe drawing up of procedures for the conduct of surgical operations is essentially a matter for the medical and nursing professions. Since 1961 the Medical Defence Union and the Royal College of Nursing have published a number of joint memoranda on safeguards against wrong operations, the latest as 33W recently as November, 1969. I am about to issue further guidance to hospital authorities on the general subject of surgical accidents which will, among other things, remind them of these joint memoranda.