§ Mr. Kirkwoodasked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether his Department has any plans to privatise the National Health Service providing the supply and maintenance of artificial eyes; and whether he will make a statement.
§ Mr. NewtonNo. However, the hon. Member will be aware that artificial eyes are currently provided through the artifical limb and appliance centres, whose services generally are the subject of the recent McColl report. The McColl review team did not consider the artificial eye service in any detail, but noted that experiments were in progress to examine the overall effectiveness of the service if artifical eyes were made and fitted locally. It recommended that strategic decisions on the future direction of the service, including consideration of possible alternative ways of providing it should await the experiment findings. The experiments are in fact complete, and a report on them is expected to be ready later this year.