§ Mr. Greg Knightasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what means are used for monitoring centrally the nature and type of medical operations carried out by the National Health Service at public expense; if he is satisfied therewith; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. John PattenWe only collect centrally a 10 per cent. sample of inpatient discharge records. We can extract routine information from that sample on operations carried out in NHS hospitals where the sample size allows. Within the resources available to each unit, the decision on which operations should be performed is a matter for the clinical judgment of the doctors concerned.