§ Mr. KeyTo ask the Secretary of State for Health when further guidance on National Health Service contracts will be published.
§ Mr. FreemanI have today had copies of "Contracts for Health Services: Operating Contracts" placed in the Library. This includes "specimen" contracts, which have largely been developed within the National Health Service with financial support from the Department. These contracts are first efforts at those which will be necessary to stipulate the nature of the service to be delivered, the quality to be achieved and the resources to be provided for every aspect of National Health Service services across the country. They are not blueprints, nor do they set precedents to be followed by every district health authority. The contracts and the further guidance, together with the previous document "Contracts for Health Services: Operational Principles", are intended to stimulate further detailed work across the country by clinicians and managers to develop useful forms of contract for every part of the service. We intend to implement contract funding in April 1991.