§ Ms. HarmanTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what is his estimate of the percentage change in the time general medical practitioners who work in budget holding practices will devote to administration under the proposals in the White Paper, "Working for Patients".
§ Mr. Kenneth ClarkeI recognise that general medical practitioners may look to other disciplines for the skills associated with managing and controlling budgets. Many large practices already employ practice managers and other administrative support staff. As proposed in the White Paper, "Working for Patients" each practice budget will include a fee, which the Government intends to set at a realistic level, to recognise the management and other costs. This will avoid the need for GPs to spend additional time on administration at the expense of caring for patients.
§ Ms. HarmanTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how many administrators are(a) currently employed in the National Health Service and (b) would be employed under the proposals in the White Paper, "Working for Patients".
§ Mr. Kenneth Clarke"Administrators" has been interpreted as administrative and clerical staff in post.
At 30 September 1987, there were 114,600 whole time equivalent administrative and clerical staff in post in England.
It is not yet possible to say what effect the White Paper proposals might have on these figures.
§ Ms. HarmanTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) whether medical audit, as proposed under the National Health Service White Paper, will be extended to private hospitals;
(2) what steps he intends to take to ensure that medical audit, as proposed under the National Health Service White Paper, is carried out in private hospitals.
§ Mr. Kenneth ClarkeI shall be publishing a working paper shortly on the development of medical audit with professionals.
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§ Ms. HarmanTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) who in a district will make the decision about whether a patient can be referred to supra-regional services or supra-district services;
(2) under the White Paper "Working for Patients", whether prior approval would have to be sought from the patient's district of residence before a patient could be referred to a supra-regional or supra-district service.
§ Mr. Kenneth ClarkeThe responsibility for referring patients to hospital will continue to rest with GPs and, in the case of referrals from one hospital service to another, with consultants. The Government's proposals for funding supra-regional and supra-district services will be set out in more detail in a working paper which I will be publishing shortly.