§ Ms. HarmanTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Services if any action is taken in respect of general practitioners who fail to notify all cases of notifiable diseases.
§ Mrs. CurrieWe are aware that the level of notification of communicable disease is not satisfactory although notification is a legal responsibility of the diagnosing clinician. However, one of the recommendations of the recently commissioned report "Public Health in England" is that the Department circulates to all doctors a brief explanatory guide to the notification procedure and its purpose. That guide is being prepared and will be circulated in the next few months. I hope it will encourage a substantial improvement.