§ Mr. MilburnTo ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to her answer of 8 February,Official Report, column 470, if she will now issue guidelines to ensure that community health councils are notified about extra-contractual referral decisions, affecting the population in their areas.
§ Dr. MawhinneyWe have already asked regional health authorities to ensure that community health councils have access to information about purchasers' contracts with providers and their purchasing plans which will include extra-contractual referral patterns. However, as each ECR decision is based on individual clinical factors, it would not be appropriate to notify community health councils of these decisions.