§ Mr. Spearingasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what were, for the latest available year, the numbers of complaints received by family practitioner committees, the number of formal hearings heard by those committees, the number of practitioners found in breach of their terms of service, and the number of cases in which such doctors were fined.
§ Mr. NewtonI regret that information on the number of formal hearings held in service committee investigations could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
The other details requested for 1986 are:—
All practitioners Doctors the number of complaints resulting in formal investigations 1,875 1,138 the number of practitioners found in breach of their terms of service 694 309 the number of cases in which withholdings from practitioners' remuneration were directed by the Secretary of State 305 64 The term "practitioner" is used collectively to describe doctors, dentists, pharmacists and opticians.