§ Ms Colquhounasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) where daycare abortion facilities are available under the National Health Service;
(2) what is the cost to the NHS of (a) in-hospital abortion and (b) day-care abortion.
§ Dr. OwenThe decision as to how treatment for termination of pregnancy should be carried out in the National 65W Health Service rests with medical staff and health authorities in each locality and the Department does not have information about the local organisation of work within a speciality or the costing of different medical or surgical conditions. It is however clear that day-care treatment generally incurs a lower cost to the NHS than in-patient treatment. I support the introduction of day-care treatment for a variety of conditions such as minor gynaecology—including therapeutic abortions in this category—and a paper commending the adoption of day-care facilities in these cases was recently put to a meeting of regional medical Officers.