§ Mr. Ray Powellasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he has issued guidance on the rights of a person to receive National Health Service treatment after a private consultation, as recommended by the Health Service Commissioner in his report April to September 1980, case No. W194/78–79, paragraph 22, page 35.
§ Mr. Geoffrey FinsbergGuidance was issued in March 1980 )(HC(80)5—paragraphs 21 and 22) and repeated in March this year (HC(82)7—paragraphs 14 and 17). Private patients who are eligible for NHS services have as much right as anyone else to receive them. It is, however, for health authorities to decide how to deliver those services having regard to the need for private patient access to the NHS to be fair to both private and NHS patients.