§ Mr. Pavittasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will reconsider his policy on minor surgery to encourage the extension of this service to general practitioner and community hospitals, in the light of the report of the working party commissioned by the Royal College of General Practitioners.
§ Dr. VaughanOne of the Royal College's recommendations is that the provision of surgery in such hospitals should be allowed to continue where surgeons and anaesthetists are in favour of its doing so. The guidance on which the recommendation is based was modified in 1977 in "The Way Forward" to allow health authorities sufficient flexibility to continue to provide surgery where this could be done usefully and economically; I would wish to encourage them to do so wherever possible.