Dr Edith Summerskill: What progress has been achieved in the programme which the right hon. and learned Gentleman has already given us?
Dr Edith Summerskill: I am prepared to accept the Minister's explanation on every head of the Supplementary Estimates he has mentioned except the one dealing with pharma-ceuticals, and I propose to raise certain questions concerned with the Supplementary Estimate of £5,312,000, the additional sum required for the pharmaceutical services. I listened very carefully and was astonished that he did not deal with a...
Dr Edith Summerskill: I am coming to that. The Minister gave the prices of drugs and I was about to mention the one he gave. But in order to relate the matter and to show the Committee how the Minister arrived at the new figure, I think it is in order to mention the other figures. You will find, Mr. Arbuthnot, that I shall stay in order, but so as to relate my remarks to a matter of this kind it is important that...
Dr Edith Summerskill: Yes—
Dr Edith Summerskill: I am sorry to have to disagree with you, Mr. Arbuthnot, but I propose to quote from that leading article. We are paying in this Estimate for the drug which was referred to by my hon. Friend. I have carefully read the leading article in the British Medical Journal. This drug is carcinogenic and it is still being prescribed to people although it is not being advertised. Surely we cannot ask the...
Dr Edith Summerskill: The hon. Gentleman must realise that the Minister—I am quite sure that he would not deny it— has a responsibility to the people of the country. If it is brought to his attention that a carcinogenic is being prescribed under the National Health Service to pregnant women and for those suffering from anaemia and osteoarthritis, and if the British Medical Journal draws attention to the fact...
Dr Edith Summerskill: The right hon. Gentleman keeps saying until June. The Minister has said that at Question Time month after month. He recognises that it has failed completely, but he tells us to wait until June. I have tried to be patient, but I find it very difficult. The Auditor-General, in considering the results of the voluntary price regulation scheme, states that the large proportion of drugs excluded...
Dr Edith Summerskill: This is a very serious matter. The hon. Member for Yeovil (Mr. Peyton) will probably need some of these drugs. It is very important for it concerns the taxpayers' money. I am very sorry if hon. Members who spoke before me insisted on taking rather a long time. The point I am making is that these American companies which I am now mentioning all operate in this country and will share some of...
Dr Edith Summerskill: I agree, Sir Gordon. I was going just a little wide. This is an important matter. The hon. and gallant Member for Ripon (Sir M. Stoddart-Scott) knows that this is factual—
Dr Edith Summerskill: I am surprised that the hon. and gallant Member is not being honest in this matter and is trying to raise a debating point. I should have thought that his scientific education would have led him to be honest. He knows perfectly well that nobody can say precisely which drugs people in this country have consumed. He can only analyse the situation broadly on the figures which are before the...
Dr Edith Summerskill: The hon. Gentleman should have entered the Chamber before and spoken to his hon. Friends who have taken all the time. He himself said that this is a very important debate. That is why I am devoting myself to this point. The defence for this is that the doctor should have freedom. I challenge the Minister on that. In the British Medical Journal of 12th March there is this article:...
Dr Edith Summerskill: May I ask whether the hon. Lady must have sixteen minutes in which to reply? Is it possible for me to have two minutes?
Dr Edith Summerskill: My hon. Friend the Member for Glasgow, Govan (Mr. Rankin) was right to ask for this Adjournment debate, because the last answer the Minister made on this subject in the House seemed to me to be a curious understatement. He told my hon. Friend that migraine was, after all, a severe headache. That must rouse the ire of any hon. Member interested in this complaint. It happens that today, as I...
Dr Edith Summerskill: As the recommendations of the Select Committee on Estimates cannot be reconciled with the recommendations of the Royal Commission on the remuneration of doctors, can the right hon. and learned Gentleman tell the House—hon. Members would be very interested to know—to which group he attaches most importance?
Dr Edith Summerskill: Is this not the kind of information that the superintendent of a mental hospital would include in his periodic report?
Dr Edith Summerskill: While this proposal would be very useful to the initiated, will not the Minister agree that it would still be possible for unscrupulous drug houses to play a confidence trick on the public unless all these drugs had a satisfactory clinical trial?
Dr Edith Summerskill: Is the right hon. and learned Gentleman satisfied that it is fair to practitioners to give 5s. for the first two innoculations and another 5s. for the third?
Dr Edith Summerskill: Is the hon. Lady satisfied that a service can be judged by the number of poor and ignorant people, who do not know the authority to whom they can complain, who complain? If that was the criterion in any service, we would not move forward at all.
Dr Edith Summerskill: Will the right hon. and learned Gentleman consider keeping a comprehensive list of congenital abnormalities?
Dr Edith Summerskill: While not asking the Minister to commit himself now, will he reconsider his first answer? As he realises, the great majority of doctors today are employed by the State and find it very difficult to obtain a deputy in case of illness; in fact, there is no certainty that they can obtain a deputy. This also applies during holidays. We should at least equate doctors with civil servants so that...
