§ Mr. Tony LloydTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what projects concerning medical audit have been financed by regions for further study; and what criteria he put forward for the regional health authorities to use in drawing up their submissions.
§ Mr. MellorWe have set up a central fund to support medical audit projects. We have asked regional health authorities to submit up to five bids each in priority order for consideration by a supervisory panel. Regions will be expected to contribute at least half the cost of each project. The guidance to regions indicted that priority would be given to projects involving large numbers of clinicians, particularly if they covered a whole unit, district or region.
We hope to announce the results shortly. In addition, several regions have set up their own schemes to support medical audit projects.