§ Mr. Patrick Jenkinasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is the estimated annual cost of publishing and circulating the DHSS journal Health Trends; and what purpose he considers is served by this journal which is not adequately covered by the substantial number of health journals and periodicals already published in the United Kingdom.
§ Mr. EnnalsThe annual cost of publishing and circulatingHealth Trends during 1975–76 was £50,361, or about 21p 520W a copy. The estimated cost during 1977 is £49,480—a sum that takes into account the introduction of economies in production amounting to nearly 10 per cent. in addition to rising costs.
The Department has recently reappraised the need for the publication, and concluded that there is a continuing need for an outlet through which the DHSS can communicate with the medical profession as a whole. In particular, the activities of the Department and the policies on which the NHS is being developed need to be better understood, and relevant statistical and other information held in the Department needs to be more readily available to doctors. The editorial board intends to devote more space to these types of paper, and has already taken steps in this direction.
A Government medical department is, rightly, in a very different position from other medical bodies when it comes to publication, and may find it difficult to publish statements in the form it wishes in accepted medical journals reaching the appropriate readership. Moreover, no non-departmental journal in the country reaching all branches of the profession could be relied on to welcome publishing such statements.