§ Dr. Evan HarrisTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what he estimates will be the average cost to general practitioners of opting out of 24-hour responsibility. [65575]
§ Mr. HuttonThis will be addressed as part of the process for pricing the new general practitioners contract which is being negotiated by the National Health Service Confederation and British Medical Association.
§ Mr. HunterTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if it is his policy to exempt from the recommendation that providers of out-of-hours services put in place appropriate systems for call abandonment, call recording and the recording of clinical consultations those general practitioners who wish to carry out their own out-of-hours cover. [55051]
294W
§ Mr. Hutton[holding answer 16 May 2002]: The Government are committed to modernising primary care out-of-hours services in line with the recommendations of the Carson report, "Raising Standards for Patients: New Partnerships in Out-of-hours Care". These improvements include quality standards which all service providers, individual general practitioners (GPs) as well as organised providers, will be required to meet. These standards do however include some easements for individual GPs on reporting requirements and telephony standards for call abandonment, which it would be inappropriate to apply to GPs who choose to provide out-of-hours services themselves until the calls are routed through NHS Direct.