§ Dr. GodmanTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland which organisation will be responsible for paying drug addicts to attend drug dependency units when general practitioners have their own budgets.
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§ Mr. Michael ForsythDrug addicts are not paid to attend drug dependency services. The introduction of general practitioner practice funding will have no detrimental effect on health care provision for drug misusers. A general practitioner fund will take account of factors such as the profile of the practice list, previous hospital treatment and prescribing patterns, and the number of potentially "high-cost" patients. There will therefore be no financial or budgetary disincentive to general practice fund holders taking on drug misusers as patients and referring them to hospital or community-based services when necessary. In their assessment of the health needs of their resident population and of the range of provision required, health boards will be able to ensure that the needs of potentially vulnerable groups such as drug misusers are properly taken into account.