Clause 11 - Amendments and repeals
Health Protection Agency Bill [Lords]
10:45 am
Dr Andrew Murrison (Shadow Minister, Public Services, Health & Education; Westbury, Conservative)
I would be interested to know how the appointments are made now, as I am a little unclear about that. I agree that appointments are best made locally. I suspect that most appointments will generally be local doctors. Is the Minister saying that that will change? I am a little unclear about that. In her previous remarks, she seemed to suggest that the agency would still make the appointments, but we now understand that they will be made locally. Does that mean by the PCT? If so, that will cause difficulties in places such as Heathrow, which I suspect might cover more than one PCT—it is such a vast site that that is almost certainly the case. The same is probably true of other ports and airports. If PCTs make the appointments locally, as I think the Minister said, how does that pan out in places such as Heathrow?