To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 18 February 2008, Official Report, column 298W, on malnutrition: standards, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the arrangements that general practitioners have in place to ensure the identification of patients with malnutrition; and if he will make a statement. (232368)

The identification of patients suffering from malnutrition would be considered as part of the provision of normal essential services delivered in general practice.

This requires practitioners to exercise their clinical judgment on a case-by-case basis recognising the needs of individual patients and based on modern authoritative practice. Primary care trusts are responsible for managing contracts with practices and ensuring they deliver the requirements in the contract, including essential services.