§ Ms PrimaroloTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will estimate the percentage of general practitioner fund holders over budget in 1991–92 and 1992–93.
§ Dr. MawhinneyInformation about individual general practitioner fund holder over or underspends is not held centrally. Regional health authorities are responsible for managing fund holder spending within overall cash limits.
§ Ms PrimaroloTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will list the quality achievements that general practitioner fund holders have achieved as a result of their status.
§ Dr. MawhinneyFund holders have been at the forefront of achieving quality improvements for patients, for example, shorter waiting times; more convenient services in general practitioner surgeries such as physiotherapy and outpatient clinics; by providing a wider range of services themselves such as minor operations; and by speeding up diagnostic tests and discharge arrangements. In many areas hospitals have implemented these improvements for all patients.
§ Ms PrimaroloTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what evidence she has on the practice of fund-holding 537W general practitioners in the extent to which they refer patients to specialists, including those visiting general practices.
§ Dr. MawhinneyThere are now over 1,200 fund-holding practices in England and it would not be practicable to hold referral information about them all centrally. However, regions report that fund holders are improving services for patients locally in a variety of ways including providing a wider range of services themselves and contracting for hospital clinicians to hold out-patient clinics in their surgeries.