§ Mr. BlunkettTo ask the Secretary of State for Health whether patients attending private consultants' clinics at general pracitioner fundholders' premises will be entitled to use national health service complaints procedures; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Dorrell[holding answer 23 May 1991]: Where the services of a consultant are purchased for the patient of a fundholding practice out of the practice fund and the consultant is acting in a private capacity, a complaint against the referring doctor may be pursued under the Naitonal Health Service (Service Committees and Tribunal) Regulations 1974. If in these circumstances the patient wishes to pursue a complaint against the consultant, he would need to do so, if there was no possibility of conciliation directly with the consultant, either through the General Medical Council or the legal process depending on the nature of the complaint. Private care can of course be purchased for NHS patients by any commissioner of care, whether a district health authority or a GP fundholder.