§ Mr. Harry Ewingasked the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) what is the purpose of the "nationality survey" presently being carried out among patients at the Queen Mother hospital, Glasgow;
(2) if he will list by medical category the type of patient being asked the "nationality survey" questions at the Queen Mother hospital, Glasgow;
(3) what instructions he has issued to the Queen Mother hospital, Glasgow regarding the carrying out of a "nationality survey" at that hospital.
§ Mr. Allan StewartAs announced on 30 June by my right hon. Friend, the then Secretary of State for Social Services, the Government have asked a working party of representatives of the health authorities, the health professions and ethic minorities to prepare advice to the NHS and health professions on the operation of a scheme to charge overseas visitors for their treatment under the NHS. The survey was carried out on behalf of the working party over a period of two weeks in October 1981. It is part of a pilot study of a procedure for identifying overseas visitors who are not entitled to free treatment under the NHS. The survey was concerned with where patients live, not their nationality. The tyes of patients involved in the survey were new patients registering for an initial outpatient clinic appointment or patients being admitted through an accident and emergency department.
The NHS in Scotland is represented on the working party. My Department sends an observer to the working party, but I have issued no instructions to the hospital about the carrying out of the survey.