§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is the justification for the regulation which prevents patients from complaining about their general practitioner after eight weeks; and if he will seek to amend them so that a complaint can be lodged up to six months.
§ Sir George YoungThis time limit is laid down in regulations made in 1974. The general justification for time limits is that it becomes more difficult for the facts of a complaint to be established with the lapse of time; and that this can bear hardly on a practitioner who, until the complaint is lodged, may or may not—according to the nature of the case—have any particular reason to record or memorise the events. The regulations do, however, provide for late complaints to be admitted for investigation if certain conditions are satisfied. A proposal to extend the time limit was included with other proposals for changing the complaints procedure which my right hon. Friend's predecessor put to the professional bodies concerned last year, and I am currently studying the comments they have made in discussion with officers of the Department.