CONSERVATIVE
New Forest East

WALES – PRESCRIPTION TOURISM - 22 June 2005

WALES – PRESCRIPTION TOURISM - 22 June 2005

Dr Julian Lewis: Whether he has met the National Assembly for Wales Minister for Health to discuss the cross-border implications of the Assembly's plans for the provision of prescriptions in Wales?

[SUPPLEMENTARY:] I thank the Secretary of State [Peter Hain] for that uninformative reply. When he had his last such meeting, did he raise the question of prescription tourism, which already costs the Welsh Assembly £3 million a year? Did he raise the £37 million cost to the Assembly of implementing free prescriptions in Wales? Did he raise the question of the 100,000 people who waited more than four hours for A and E treatment and the 284,000 people who are on waiting lists? Does he think that those are proper uses for limited NHS resources?