asked the Minister of Health if he will invite his Standing Medical Advisory Committee to examine the methods of treating soft tissue lesions carried out at St. Thomas's Hospital under the direction of Dr. Cyriax, with a view to instituting a controlled research study into the effectiveness of this form of treatment.

No, Sir; it is not the Committee's function to advise on the effectiveness of particular forms of medical treatment.

Is there any way in which the right hon. Gentleman can look into this form of treatment of rheumatism or what is called rheumatism and fibrositis? The treatment followed by Dr. Cyriax seems to have been extremely successful. It does not, however, seem to be widely practised in this country. It is, however, more widely used on the Continent—for example, Germany. What can the right hon. Gentleman do to get some detailed assessment of the value of the treatment about which, admittedly, there is some controversy?

As I expect the hon. Gentleman knows, it would be open to Dr. Cyriax to apply for a research grant for a controlled trial from the Clinical Research Board of the Medical Research Council or from some other research organisation, but it is not the function of the Standing Medical Advisory Committee to act as the hon. Gentleman suggests.

Can the right hon. Gentleman say whether, in his view, this is a case still for research or a case of what some would call medical conservatism? If the second, how can it be overcome and a wider knowledge of Dr. Cyriax's method be made known?

I am not sure that I follow the hon. Gentleman, because in his Question he referred to instituting a controlled research study. I was trying to answer that. The treatment of individual patients is the responsibility of the individual medical practitioner concerned.