§ Mr. Patrick Jenkinasked the Secretary of State for Social Services why his Department has refused to sponsor research on a desk top computer as outlined by Dr. Bob Johnson which would enable general practitioners to prescribe the cheapest form of drugs.
§ Mr. MoyleMy Department gave Dr. Johnson a small grant from 1970 to 1972 to enable him to develop a system for numerical coding of patients' medical details. He applied for a further £20,000 in 1974 to finance an extension of his earlier work and to install a small computer in his surgery. A team of departmental officers saw a demonstration of the system, but, on advice from the independent Advisory Committee on Medical Computing, concluded that there would not be sufficient demand by general practitioners for the system to justify a further grant, bearing in mind that the doctors would have to keep manual records at the same time as carrying out coding for computer use. Dr. Johnson made another application in 1976 for £30,000, and a completely independent team of assessors including two general practitioners, were asked to consider it. They discussed the scheme with Dr. Johnson, and his co-applicants and sponsors, but were unable to support the application. The Advisory Committee agreed with the assessors.