HL Deb 27 May 1982 vol 430 cc1358-9WA
Lord Winstanley

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether they will list the items of service which a general practitioner is required to provide free of charge to his or her National Health Service patients.

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health and Social Security (Lord Trefgarne)

A doctor may not, other than under or by virtue of the provisions of the National Health Service (General Medical and Pharmaceutical Services) Regulations 1974, demand or accept a fee or other remuneration for any treatment, including maternity medical services, whether under the Terms of Service for Doctors or not, which he gives to his National Health Service patients, except:—

  1. (a) from any statutory body for services rendered for the purpose of that body's statutory functions;
  2. (b) from any body, employer or school for a routine medical examination or persons for whose welfare the body, employer or school is responsible, for an examination of such persons for the purpose of advising the body, employer or school of any administrative action they might take;
  3. (c) for treatment which is not of a type usually provided by general practitioners and which is given—
    1. (i) pursuant to the provisions of Sections 1 and 2 of the Health Services and Public Health Act 1968(a), or
      2. 1359
    2. (ii) in a registered nursing home which is not providing services under the Health Service Acts, if (in either case) the doctor is serving on the staff of a hospital providing services under the Health Service Acts as a specialist providing treatment of the kind the patient requires and if within seven days from giving the treatment the doctor supplies the Family Practitioner Committee, on a form provided by it for the purpose, with such information about the treatment as it may require;
  4. (d) under section 155 of the Road Traffic Act 1972(b);
  5. (e) from a dentist in respect of provision at his request for an anaesthetic for a person for whom the dentist is providing general dental services;
  6. (f) when a doctor treats a patient under paragraph 4(2) of the National Health Service (General Medical and Pharmaceutical Services) Regulations 1974, in which case the doctor shall be entitled to demand and accept a reasonable fee (recoverable under paragraph 33 of those regulations) for any treatment given and for any drugs and appliances supplied, if he gives the patient a receipt on a form supplied by the family practitioner committee;
  7. (g) for attending and examining (but not otherwise treating) a patient at his request at a police station in connection with proceedings which the police are minded to bring against him;
  8. (h) for treatment consisting of an immunisation for which no remuneration is payable by the family practitioner committee in pursuance of the statement made under Regulation 24 of the National Health Service (General Medical and Pharmaceutical Services) Regulations 1974 and which is requested in connection with travel abroad;
  9. (i) for circumcising a patient for whom such an operation is requested on religious grounds and is not needed on any medical ground.