§ Mr. Home RobertsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make a statement about arrangements for funding emergency repair cover for the house telephones of doctors and consultants working in the National Health Service in Scotland.
§ Mr. Michael ForsythBritish Telecom is in the process of changing the arrangements for the operation and funding of emergency repairs to telephones at National Health Service premises and at the homes of key personnel. The Scottish Home and Health Department is consulting interested parties about ways of ensuring that key personnel (including general practitioners and hospital 71W consultants) can be contacted quickly in cases of urgency, even when there is a fault on their home telephone line. The Department aims to identify arrangements which represent good value for public money, do not conflict with the terms of service of the key personnel concerned and, above all, are effective.