§ Mr. Sillarsasked the Secretary of State for Scotland how many general practitioners working on contract to the National Health Service work in each city and large burgh in Scotland; and how many units of practice accommodation in the general practice field are in each city or burgh.
§ Mr. Gordon CampbellI regret that this information could not be made available for large burghs without undue effort since none coincide with the areas of executive councils. For the cities, the information as at 1st October,1971, is set out in the table below. Health centres are counted as one unit though they may house doctors working in several group practices.
City Number of General Practitioners (excluding those with limited lists) Number of practice accommodation units Aberdeen … 92 49 Dundee … 84 37 Edinburgh … 237 138 Glasgow … 459 307
§ Mr. Sillarsasked the Secretary of State for Scotland how many complaints his Department received in 1971 about poor standard general practice accommodation; and how many of these complaints were directed to conditions in cities and large burghs.
§ Mr. Gordon CampbellA general practitioner is required to provide proper and sufficient consulting and waiting room accommodation for his patients, having regard to the circumstances of his practice, and the primary responsibility for ensuring that this requirement is met rests with executive council. I received no formal complaints in 1971 that the requirement had not been complied with.
176W
Mr. Sillars asked the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) what present arrangements exist for his Department to inspect general practice accommodation;
(2) how many times in 1971 officials of his Department inspected general practitioner accommodation about which complaints had been received.
§ Mr. Gordon CampbellThe responsibility for inspecting and approving general practice accommodation rests with executive councils. There are no regular arrangements for my Department to inspect such accommodation, though visits may on occasion be made to individual surgeries. This was done in the case of accommodation at Auchinleck about which the hon. Member asked a Question in 1971. No other visits were paid in 1971 as a result of complaints about accommodation.
§ Mr. Sillarsasked the Secretary of State for Scotland what Government assistance is available to general practitioners for improving general practice accommodation; what conditions are attached to such assistance; and what expenditure has been incurred on this each year in the period 1960–71, or to the latest available date.
§ Mr. Gordon CampbellExchequer grants towards the cost of improving medical practice premises were introduced on 1st December, 1965. The grant is one-third of the approved cost of the improvement project and is strictly limited to improvement of premises already in use. The improved premises must remain in use for National Health Service medical practice for a specified minimum period. Expenditure on grants approved during the years 1966–71 is set out in the table below:
1966* … … … 5,948 1967 … … … 5,682 1968 … … … 5,715 1969 … … … 5,876 1970 … … … 6,964 1971 … … … 11,603 * 13 months.