§ Sir Nigel Fisherasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what was the average cost to the National Health Service, in the last year for which figures are available, of each visit by a patient to his general practitioner.
§ Dr. OwenGeneral medical practioners are not paid according to the number of visits by or to patients and therefore no return is made to family practitioner642W committees of these visits. Surveys, however, indicate that the number of consultations per patient per year between three and four. Payments for the provision of general medical services in England in 1975–76 amounted to about £280 million, that is approximately £6.10 per head of population or, on the basis of the consultation rates I have mentioned, £1.50 to £2 per visit. The consequential pharmaceutical services added about £370 million to the bill in 1975–76 or approximately £8 per head of population.