Clause 5 - X-rays and ultrasound scans: England and Wales
Drugs Bill
2:30 pm
Mrs Cheryl Gillan (Shadow Minister, Home Affairs; Chesham and Amersham, Conservative)
Welcome to our proceedings this afternoon, Mr. Gale.
When we broke, I was responding to the Minister's response to the amendment. What really worries me is the lack of detail. I wholeheartedly support the Minister in what she is trying to achieve but would have liked some of the financial tests to be available to the Committee, not least when it comes to access to hospitals, general practice surgeries and the other medical premises included in the Bill. We are talking not about accident and emergency provisions but about a procedure that is to be initiated at the request of a police officer. The officer may request a general practitioner or a hospital's accident and emergency department to carry out tests on behalf of the police, and, indeed, to interpret those tests on behalf of the police and transmit the results to them. It follows that the national health service or private medical facility that provides those services will face a cost.
The Minister has given no indication whether the police have the intention, or, indeed, the provision, to purchase the equipment necessary to carry out those tests. Nor has she said that specific facilities or suites will be made available for them. She will therefore have to rely entirely on the national health service and/or the private sector. If I remember correctly, her response this morning was that the costs will be negligible. I do not see general practices responding in that fashion to the sort of costs involved. GPs in Chesham and Amersham provide a tremendous service, and our primary care trust tries its very best, but they are all under a great deal of pressure. Indeed, my constituents have to travel some distance to avail themselves of X-ray facilities.
The cost of the facilities is a moveable feast. However, while we were at lunch I unearthed a tariff of costs, and I need the Minister to respond to me in writing—I shall withdraw the amendment—setting out what tests she will require the police to request from the national health service or a private facility.
The radiology tariff from the Department of Health for 2004-05 can vary. I am afraid that the information is slightly outwith the amounts given by the estimable lady veterinarian wife of the hon. Member for Orkney and Shetland (Mr. Carmichael), but some of them could be the same price as a vet's X-ray. On the list is something with a specialty code RBA1, in band A, which costs £17. Ultrasounds start from £31 and go to £36, £69 and as much as £113.